


Detroit by Night

by Miss_Ember



Series: Detroit by Night [1]
Category: Vampire: The Masquerade
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-02-28 05:28:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18749953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Ember/pseuds/Miss_Ember
Summary: Based on a game of V20 between myself, another player and the Storyteller- The story of Aster (my character) living in Detroit, overcoming hardship and rising to power. Only a few canon characters are used, most are made-up NPCs. The story itself is not my idea, it was technically written by all of us.





	1. The Meeting

Detroit- the murder capital of the United States. A city drenched in blood and filth, urban decay and desolation. Murders, disappearances, assaults- nothing was off the table here if you were not careful enough and no one would bat an eye. A city like this was the perfect home for vampires- they stalked the nightlife of the city, adding bodies to the already existing numbers. And it was the city that Aster currently called home.  
  
Aster was unusual- even for being a vampire. She had only recently moved to Detroit, following some information that her sire was nearby. Once she had arrived in the city, she quickly went to work using her resources and money she had saved up to open a tattoo shop to hopefully bring in some funds and for her enjoyment- tattoos were something any vampire could do, sure, but only vampires like Aster could make it a permanent thing when it was done on another vampire. It was something special she could do and profit from. Plus, she just enjoyed doing art- whether it be on a body or paper, she didn't care. Aster was also a very solitary vampire, which was unusual for vampires in the Sabbat. She preferred to keep to herself, not joining any packs or running with any particular groups. In fact, in the last city she had lived in, she had made a deal with the local Bishop to be excluded from most Sabbat related-things in exchange for her “services”. Aster was a fleshcrafter, a master in the art of Vicissitude. She could take anyone's flesh and change them practically any way she wanted- which is why her tattoos would stay permanently on a vampire's body. However, she hadn't made such a deal with anyone in this city, yet. She had barely presented herself to the local Bishop- something that she knew was rude to do but she was too focused on getting herself settled first. She had no plans to leave this city any time soon, not until she found her sire.  
  
Aster was busy at work in her shop, it was a surprisingly busy night. She didn't run the place alone, of course, she had a ghoul named Needles- he was sweet and kind, stupid as all hell, but he got shit done and that's what Aster liked. She wasn't overly kind to him, often giving him cold and short responses, but there was a reason for that- she didn't want him to get too attached to her, as ghouls usually did. But he did his job, helped her with some non-work related things (usually disposing of bodies after her meals) and didn't question her so Aster didn't mind having him around. She was in the middle of a pretty complex tattoo some big, badass biker asked for when she heard Needles call out to her as he entered the room she was in:  
  
“Uhhh… Aster, can you come up here?”  
  
Aster sighed, straightening up and placing her tattoo gun on a nearby tray, looking over at Needles as she pulled her gloves off. “What is it?”  
  
Needles shifty uncomfortably as he looked at her- Aster knew he was scared of her and the thought brought a smile to her face. He cleared his throat and said, “Well… uh there's, uh, a c-customer here that, uh, wants to see you specifically.” He looked away from her as if he was expecting her to hit him.  
  
Aster rolled her eyes, looking back to the biker and muttering “Give me a moment.” before pushing past Needles and into the main waiting area of her shop. There she saw a man who was looking around the shop with a curious look on his face. He seemed not to notice her as she walked into the room. Aster placed a hand on her hip, staring at him before she cleared her throat loudly and said “Can I help you?”  
  
The man turned to her, and she noticed some things about him that were… off. His face was almost feral looking, as if he had been living in the woods his entire life and was way too friendly with the animals there. His eyes were hidden by sunglasses, which he tilted down to speak to her, and she noticed that they were almost like wolf eyes. _Ah, I see_ She knew almost immediately what he was, though she had no idea what he wanted. The man smiled, his crooked, jagged and sharp teeth showing as he said “There is a meeting tonight. Required. I'm here to take you.” His voice was low and somewhat growly, as if he either didn't speak often or it was raw from yelling of some type- Aster wasn't sure which.  
  
Aster tilted her head, attempting to look confused “A meeting?” She was playing dumb, hoping that this vampire would think he had the wrong person and leave- she had no interest in going to a meeting, she really just wanted to be left alone. However, it seemed this vampire wasn't going to take no for an answer. He gestured to her door and said “Ya, a meeting. Let's go. Now. You don't want to keep the Bishop waiting.”  
  
Aster sighed and shrugged, “Guess I have no option here- let me tell my employee I'm leaving.” She said, turning and walking back into the room she had just walked out of. She looked to her client, who looked utterly confused, and she shook her head at him “Sorry, but it looks like you'll have to come back- family emergency came up, you know how it is. Needles here will finish up with wrapping the piece for now so it doesn't get ruined- come back tomorrow night or something.” The biker shrugged in reply.  
  
Aster then walked over to her mirror and looked at herself, making sure she looked presentable. Her jet-black hair was a bit of a mess, but that was normal. She had incredibly short hair, shaved on one side and the rest of it was flipped over. It had a blue tint to it that was beautiful in the sunlight- too bad that would never be seen as long as Aster wanted to live. Her eyes shone a bright, emerald green- the only thing about her body that remained unchanged from the time she was born nearly 300 years ago. She may have fleshcrafted her body and hair but she would never change her eyes, her sire told her once that he loved the way they looked. On the side of her head, where her hair was shaved, was a tattoo- it looked like a zombie hand bursting out of the ground. Aster had allowed Needles to do the tattoo for practice and he picked the design. Aster found it a bit silly but kept it anyways since he seemed so proud of it. She adjusted her Victorian-style vest, ran a hand over her hair and looked back at Needles, “I'll be back before sunrise.” She said and walked back to the waiting room.  
  
Her “guest” looked her over, his face looking bored as all hell as he said “You ready? Let's go.” Aster sighed dejectedly and said “Alright, lead the way.” The man smirked, opening her door, stepping onto the street and began to haul ass. Aster was caught off-guard, she didn't expect to be running to a meeting. She had thought her chaperone would have at least had some type of vehicle, isn't that just the polite way to do things? She really didn't have time to think about it as the other vampire yelled back to her “Try to keep up, new blood! I'll leave you in the dust!”  
  
Aster frowned, readying herself, and took off after him. She found it somewhat difficult to keep up- he was dodging through shitty alleys and poorly made roads and she was wearing somewhat restrictive clothing. But, despite all that, she managed to keep up well enough to get to where they were going, an abandoned mall.  
  
The outside of the mall looked, well, maintained well enough for being an abandoned mall in Detroit- it had only somewhat fallen apart on the outside. Several groups were gathered around the entrance- some of them just talking, some of them building bonfires and jumping over them, some of them just standing around, watching the others. Aster looked around for her chaperone and noticed he had disappeared and shrugged, moving to one of the unoccupied spots on a wall and leaning against it- crossing her arms over her chest.  
  
She carefully observed the groups, taking notes of how many packs were there- nothing out of the ordinary from her experience, although she didn't go to many Sabbat meetings in the past 150 years. As she scanned the crowd, she saw a vampire who stood out somewhat to her- a very, very pale redheaded man. He looked confused and like he didn't belong with any of the other  groups. She watched as he too, looked around and then met eyes with her. She stared back at him and he began moving her way, much to her annoyance. As soon as he was within a few feet of her, he waved awkwardly “Hey- so do you know what's going on?” He asked with a slight Irish accent.  
  
Aster shrugged in reply, “A meeting was all I was told- a required one or else I wouldn't be here.” She rolled her eyes, looking away from him in the hopes that he would take the hint and go away. He didn't take the hint. “I'm Blue.” He said, extending a hand to her. Aster looked over him and took his hand, shaking it. He looked really strange to her, wearing some weird jacket and a huge scarf. She couldn't help but notice the scars all over his face- he looked like he got into a fight with a lawn mower and lost badly. She smiled at the thought of a vampire fighting with a lawn mower when she realized he was still talking to her. “Interesting tattoo, where'd you get it?” He asked.  
  
Aster shook her thoughts away and replied, “Ah, this one? My ghoul did it, he's a tattoo artist like myself.” Blue seemed to get excited by this, “Oh, you're a tattoo artist? That's awesome, I need some work done myself.”  
  
“Oh?” Aster replied, “Well my shop is downtown if you're interested- I'm pretty sure I own the only shop that stays open pretty much 24/7. My ghoul usually works days and of course, I do the night stuff. I'm Aster, by the way, and I'd be happy to work on you if you got the cash.”  
  
The smile that Blue wore faded for a moment and he rolled his eyes at her “I'm not stupid, ya know, Aster. Why would I pay for a tattoo that'll just be gone the next day?” He looked insulted, as if he thought she was trying to trick him.  
  
Aster laughed, loudly, and a few of the gathered vampires looked at her. She then took her hands, placed them over her head and allowed her fleshcrafting to speak for her- growing her hair from short to incredibly long, nearly down to her ass. She then moved her hands over her hair once again, turning her hair a vibrant blue color. She smirked at Blue and said “That's why you'd pay me.”  
  
Blue looked confused for a moment, “Because you can change your hair color?” He asked. Aster sighed, clearly a bit frustrated. “No, you idiot, because I'm a fleshcrafter!” She practically yelled, using her hands to fix her hair back to its original style. Blue shrugged, looking at her, “I don't know what that is, sorry. It's not a discipline I'm familiar with.”  
  
“Well, then, what can you do?” Aster asked, curious as to what type of vampire didn't know about Vicissitude. In response, Blue put up his hands and suddenly, there was a flower there as  if conjured. He did a overly dramatic bow, extending the flower to her. It was Aster's turn to be confused, she looked at the flower and took it, holding it in her hand before it just vanished. “What was that?” She asked Blue- was it some type of magic? She wasn't sure.  
  
“Chimerstry.” He said proudly, “Illusion magic, basically. I can conjure basically anything I want. It's not real, of course, but I can easily make you think it's real.” To prove his point, he conjured several more flowers with a wave of his hand before shaking them away into the wind, where they disappeared again.  
  
“Interesting...” Aster mused. She wasn't familiar with Chimerstry at all, she didn't know which clan had that power- she was tempted to ask Blue what clan he was but she knew that was rude so she just let it go. Suddenly, the doors to the mall opened and a booming voice called out, “Get in here, you idiots!” and all the vampires around them began moving. Aster turned back to Blue and said, “Shall we?” and Blue nodded in response, both of them joining the crowd to head inside.  
  
  
Once inside, everyone gathered around and several vampires grabbed any available seats and sat down. Aster didn't bother to try and grab a seat- there weren't enough for everyone and she didn't want to fight for a chair. She stood in the back, near Blue, and leaned against a wall. In the middle of everyone, a woman with long black hair walked over and somehow started up a huge bonfire- Aster couldn't see very well from where she was, but she assumed they had something set up ahead of time. Once that was done, the woman went to stand next to two other vampires- one of them a large, tough-looking man who was wearing a nice suit and hat. Next to him was a less nice-looking man, he looked somewhat feral and hunched over, whispering something into his arm- Aster wondered if he was Malkavian or something, he was certainly acting crazy enough. Then the large man moved forward, into the middle of the room and began to speak loudly with a Russian accent, “Sword of Caine! You have been called here tonight by the Archbishop herself. It has been a while since we last gathered and the Archbishop wishes for us to renew our bonds with a new Vinculum. Plus, we have new blood in the city.” He gestured over to where Aster and Blue stood and Aster wished she could shrink away as dozens of eyes were suddenly on her- she really disliked being the center of attention. The man, who Aster assumed was a Bishop from the way he talked, smiled at her and then said, “Please, you two, introduce yourselves.”  
  
Aster looked to Blue, hoping that he would speak up first and get on with it- no luck. He was just staring back at her and then moved his hands as if to say _you go!_ and Aster sighed, turning to face the crowd. With a shrug, Aster addressed the crowd, “My name is Aster- I own a tattoo shop downtown. I've been in the city for a few months already.” She hoped that was sufficient, she really didn't want to give out more than that. Apparently, that did suffice as the large man looked from her to Blue and Blue began to speak, “Uhh.. I'm Blue. I live downtown in some abandoned church with one of my other pack-mates. That's… about it.” He gave an awkward smile, looking back at Aster. The Bishop nodded in their direction and then looked back to the crowd as a whole, “Good, now that that is out of the way, everyone give your attention to the Archbishop- Carolina Valez.”  
  
Aster looked up to the second story of the mall, where a woman stood. She wore quite the revealing outfit and several piercing on her face. She had a few tattoos and she looked down upon the crowd with a smile on her face as she began to move from the second floor down to the first. She spoke and her voice carried an air of authority, “Sword of Caine,” she began “It has been some time since we last met. I felt it important to call this meeting as we need to reinforce our bonds- we are the Sabbat and our bonds are what make us strong. Plus, let us not forget our two newcomers.” She, too, gestured to Aster and Blue and once again, all the eyes in the room fell upon them. Aster felt uncomfortable, shifting in her spot, wishing they'd stop drawing attention to her. However, Carolina began to speak again, redrawing attention to herself, “Now, let us not waste time, my fellow Cainites. It is time, once again, to begin the Viniculum!”  
  
The Archbishop then walked over to a table that had been set up, and a rather large bowl had been placed upon it. She stood behind the bowl, pulled out a large dagger and slit her wrist, allowing her blood to drain into the bowl. She then waved over the three vampires who were standing separate from the crowd as she said, “Come, my Bishops, and add your blood.” The three of them moved over, mimicking Carolina's movements, adding their blood to the bowl. Then Carolina turned to the crowd and smiled, “Now, please join us everyone- in an orderly fashion, of course.” One by one, the vampires began to rise, moving to the bowl and adding their blood in. Aster fidgeted, she really didn't want to join a Viniculum with these Cainities- not yet at least. She barely knew any of them. But she knew to not do so was basically asking to be killed. _Maybe I can just… pretend to drink from the bowl, I'm sure no one would notice._ She waited until an opening came and moved up to add in her blood, Blue following suit.  
  
Once everyone had added their blood, the bowl was then raised, Carolina taking the first drink from it and then passing it around. Once Aster received it, she put the bowl to her lips and did her best not to take any in- until she heard a voice whisper in her ear, “Is there a reason you do not wish to partake in our blood, Volgirre?” Aster nearly dropped the bowl, turning and looking straight into the eyes of the woman with the long, black hair. Aster stammered for a moment, then replied “Oh, uh, I was actually just enjoying the aroma for a moment, much like you would do with a fine wine. Plus, it's been quite some time since I've gotten to enjoy the scent of fresh vitae.” Aster smiled at her, then drank from the bowl, really wishing she hadn't been caught. Aster then passed the bowl over to Blue, who seemed to be a bit shaken from Aster getting caught, and he drank from the bowl right away. The woman smiled sweetly at Aster, and continued to whisper into her ear, “I am Samantha, one of the Bishops. You almost made a most dangerous mistake, Volgirre. Tell me, when the rest of your bloodline went traitor and ran to the Camarilla, why is it you stayed?”  
  
Aster froze, she felt so uncomfortable with Samantha so close to her. She muttered, trying not to be overheard, “My loyalty has always belonged to the Sabbat- the Camarilla would never allow me to be who I truly am and the Sabbat has never let me down.” Aster felt something move up her back, and she felt Samantha's hands rest on her shoulders and Aster had to fight the urge not to push her away- she hated being touched. “Good answer.” Samantha whispered, her tone shifting to something more seductive. “I find you very interesting, Aster. You should come to my club sometime, it's in uptown. Come and see me sometime.” And with that, Samantha removed her hands and began to walk away, glancing back to Aster one last time to wink at her.  
  
With a sigh of relief, Aster relaxed as she walked away, noticing that half of the room had been staring at them. Most of them had disapproving looks on their faces and Aster wondered if they had overheard any of the conversation. She didn't want anyone to know about her bloodline, it would automatically mark her as some type of traitor. She looked over at Blue, who gave her a confused look back- had he overheard too? She wasn't sure but she moved closer to him and muttered “I'm not so sure I like the Cainities in this city…” to which Blue shrugged in response. “They're not so bad,” he said “Pretty standard Sabbat from what I can tell.” Aster couldn't disagree, this is generally how the Sabbat were- which is why she often skipped their meetings.  
  
Once the bowl had made its rounds, it ended up back in the front. Then, Carolina turned back to the group and put her hands up in the air, causing a wave of silence to wash over the crowd. “Now, I believe it is time for us to begin the bloodfeast.” She made a gesture over to the side where Aster saw a few people hanging upside down, wrapped tightly in chains and hung from the ceiling. They were a family from the looks of it, a woman, a man, a teenager and two small children. Aster looked back at Carolina and noticed a strange expression on her face as she studied the family, but she seemed to quickly snap back to attention as she said “Well then, feel free to begin.” She walked over and began to feed from one of the captured humans and soon, most of the vampires followed suit. Aster stood back, feeling that she had no right to shove her way in to feed, standing next to Blue and seeing from the look on his face that he most likely felt the same. Once enough space had cleared, they both moved in and fed, the blood filling Aster with a temporary warmth that always faded all too quickly.  
  
As Aster fed, she heard a strange sound coming from outside the mall. Unsure of what it was, she moved away from feeding and looked around- it seemed some of her fellow vampires also heard this sound as well as several of them began to look around as well. It sounded like a dull roar, but it was quickly getting louder. And then Aster recognized the sound, but a moment too late. Through the halls of the empty malls roared the engines of motorcycles, probably about a dozen, screeching loudly into the room they were all in. The riders were carrying various weapons, some having nothing more than a baseball bat but some of them had some serious heat- shotguns, semi-auto machine guns and the like. Aster looked back to see several of the vampires around her had fled, and the Bishops had surrounded the Archbishop, moving her up to the second floor to safety. Those who were left began to jump into a fight with the men on the bikes. Aster backed up, about to flee herself when a loud **BANG** went off and she felt immense pain in her shoulder- one of the men who had a shotgun had shot her as he drove by. _Ow! Son of a bitch! I'm gonna make this guy regret that choice._ She was mad. It'd been a long time since she had been in a fight but that didn't mean she was any less pissed off.  
  
She watched as the man turned his bike around and she crouched into a more defensive position. She wasn't quite sure how to knock the guy off his bike. He passed by, taking another shot at her which barely missed her face. She looked around, spotting a stairway she could hide in. As he went to turn again, she moved, rushing for the stairway and dodging into it just as he came by- however, her leg was hit by his shot. “Fuck!” she screamed, pulling herself into a more safe spot. She looked around desperately, trying to find something to defend herself with and found a piece of discarded wood. _Guess this'll have to do…_ She grabbed it, readying herself and she heard the bike approaching. He rounded the corner, his headlines shining in her eyes and temporarily blinding her. As she heard the bike get closer, she stuck the wood out, hoping the catch the wheels.  
  
Luck was with her, it seemed, as the wood somehow caught the right spot in the wheels, sending the bike off course and into a nearby wall. However, the sudden wrenching of the wood into the wheels also caused Aster's arm to break as she held on, pain shooting through her again. She shook herself off, standing up and walking over to where the driver had fallen, grabbing his shotgun with her good arm and pointing it at his head before firing 3 shots. She recoiled slightly as blood and brain matter splattered all over her face and clothes, flicking some of the carnage off herself before she looked around to find Blue. She spotted him, moving up to the second floor, seeming to have the upper hand against a guy with a baseball bat. She watched as Blue took a few swings at the guy, trading blow for blow. Aster began to move, heading up to help Blue. As she got up there, she took a swing at the back of the guy's head,and hit him enough for Blue to get a good punch in from the front- causing the man to get knocked out cold and hit the ground.  
  
With a growl of anger, Aster grabbed the man by the back of his collar, and dragging him up to the second floor. She glanced back down the stairs, noticing that all the other men in the motorcycle group either were dead or had left. She turned back to the man that Blue had knocked out and slapped his face, hoping to wake him up. His eyes began to flutter, and when they came back into focus and he saw Aster and Blue hovering over him, he jumped up and immediately fell to his knees. He fished around in his shirt, grabbing for something before he held a cross out in front of him, whimpering as he said “Please, please, I'm a good man. I'm a Christian. Please don't kill me!” Aster looked to his hands, seeing the cross held within them and suddenly, she saw red. An anger and fury that she hadn't felt in years took over her and she felt lost- everything became a blur of emotion and hate.  
  
The anger moved through her, guiding her motions. She grabbed the man by the arms, smashing his hands into his face with all her might. She then brought her hands together, smashing her clasped hands into his head and knocking him to the ground. It was like someone else was guiding her as she repeatedly smashed her fists into the man over and over, his screams silenced by the blood filling his lungs and throat. Even has she punched, her own hands became raw and bloody, her blood mixing in with his as she continued her vicious onslaught. And then… her hands hurt, they hurt really badly. She looked down, her fury subsiding, and she saw a pile of  mush. Red, bloody mush with bones and entrails sticking out from all over. Her hands were in tremendous pain and she looked down at them, seeing them covered in blood and guts. She looked over at Blue, who had a horrified look on his face and she sighed, knowing exactly what had happened. She had lost control and frenzied, killing the man with the cross. She looked back at the bloody mess that used to be a person and saw a pair of shoes standing behind the pile. Aster looked up to see one of the Bishops there, the large man who had addressed the crowd at the start of the meeting.  
  
“Well done, you two.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. “Really, just wonderful work. Thanks to you two, we can no longer get any information from him as to who he worked for.” He looked extremely displeased and Aster looked down in embarrassment- it's not like she had planned to kill the man. The Bishop cleared this throat and then said, “You two are lucky that my boys are much more efficient than you.” He looked behind Aster and Blue, causing the two of them to look backwards in response. Standing there was one of the packs, a group of bikers from the looks of it. They held one of the guys from the group of motorcyclists between them and he looked terrified as hell. A woman in the group stepped forward- she sported short, jet black hair and wore a lot of clothing that reminded Aster of someone getting ready for a war, mixed with the usual biker clothes- leather jacket and the like. She took the man and threw him on the ground in front of Aster and Blue and she announced, “Czar, we managed to capture one of them. I'm quite certain that he is willing to answer questions now, and if not, I'll happily beat them out of him.” She looked down at the man and he squirmed, trying slightly to scoot away but failed when he realized when he was surrounded.  
  
“Ah, the Hell's Rejects.” Czar, as Aster understood his name to be, said, “I am glad you had the foresight to grab one of them.” He looked down to the man and smiled at him- a sinister, cold smile that reminded Aster of the type of smile a mafia Godfather might give. “Now, I believe it is time for you to talk.”  
  
The man looked around and then threw his hands up, “L-listen, this was just a job, man! M-my boss, he took on this job from some guy who really wanted you fucks dead. He m-must of really hated you, he wanted us to set you all on fire and shit. He owns some shitty radio equipment somewhere and has some serious cash- that's all I know.” Czar leaned in close to the man and even Aster felt intimidated from his actions, taking an involuntary step to the side to get out of the way. “And who is your boss?” Czar asked. The man started to shake, he was truly terrified, “I work for the Kings, man.” he said, a sense of pride in his voice. Czar stood up, looking to the Hell's Rejects and nodding to them. With one swift motion, the man's head rolled off his shoulders- he had been swiftly decapitated by the dark-haired woman. Aster watched the head roll away with some disgust- what a waste of good flesh.  
  
Czar looked over all of them, and he shrugged. “Very well then. Silver- take the Hell's Rejects and wipe out these Kings- let them know they don't fuck with the Sabbat.” The dark-haired woman, Silver apparently, nodded and made a motion to her pack and they swiftly moved out. Czar then looked at Aster and Blue, his cold smile back, “and you two, you will track down whoever hired them and take care of him. Make him pay for this. Prove that you're worthy to be under me.” Aster and Blue nodded, “Yes, sir.” they said in unison, quickly backing away from Czar and leaving the mall- Aster making sure to grab the shotgun on the way out.  



	2. In Search of the Bat

As Aster and Blue walked out of the mall, Aster reached into her back pocket and pulled out her cell phone to check the time. 3:30 AM. She still had enough time to make it home easily before the sun rose. She noticed she had a ton of text messages from Needles and sighed, opening the messages so she could read them:  
  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                                               Hey boss I had to lock up for the night  
                                  
                                                                                                                                                         I know I said I'd stay until sunrise this week  
   
                                                                                                                                                                       But my gf is pissed at me right now  
  
                                                                                                                                                                  im sorry please dont be upset with me  
  
                                                                                                                                                                                ill see you tomorrow night

  
  
Aster frowned at the messages- why the fuck couldn't he just say everything in one message? She didn't particularly care that he left early, he did that pretty often nowadays. Girlfriend troubles, school issues, family stuff- Aster wondered sometimes if he was worth it. But finding someone to ghoul was a pain in the ass, and finding someone who Aster trusted was even harder. She looked up at Blue and frowned, “My ghoul left the shop early.” she explained.  
   
“Oh, I see.” Blue replied, pulling out his own phone. “I'm gonna call an Uber, you want a lift?” He asked, waving his phone in her direction. Aster nodded in reply, “Yeah that'd be nice, I ran here… unwillingly.”  
  
They waited in silence for an Uber, and both piled into the backseat once it arrived. Aster gave the address of her shop (which was also her haven) and Blue gave the address of his church. They also exchanged numbers since they were going to be working together to find whoever this guy was that hired the Kings. As the car moved along, though, Aster noticed something coming from the radio. It wasn't turned to a normal music station but was instead set on some type of talk show. The man on the talk show was speaking rather quickly and erratically- normally something that Aster would just blow off and ignore, but then she heard something that caught her attention.  
  
“These creatures, these freaks. They pretend to be human, just like you or me but they're so much worse. They hide in the shadows, they'll grab you right off the street and drain your very life away!”  
  
Aster looked over at Blue and he frowned, “Think this might be our guy?” he whispered to her. Aster shrugged, “Could be. Let's keep-” and she paused, noticing the driver moving to change the station. “ **Don't.** ” she growled at him. The driver paused and then moved his hand back, “Shit, lady, okay! I won't change it- didn't think you two would be into this crazy talk.”  
  
Aster hissed a “Be quiet!” at him as she focused on the radio- the man on the radio was still talking, “Listen, I have a plan, dear listeners. A plan to rid ourselves of these things. I tried something today but it just didn't work so I have a new plan. I'm going to contact the media, I'll let everyone know exactly what we're dealing with. For more information, visit my youtube channel- user name is eyeknowthetruth, Eye being spelled e-y-e and it's all one word.” and with that, the transmission went to static.  
  
Aster looked at Blue again and rolled her eyes, “Guess we have no choice but to look up this… youtube of his.” She wasn't super familiar with today's technology- sure she had a smart phone and could text, look up places on google maps and call an Uber but that was about the limit of her abilities. “Do you have any knowledge of what that is?” she asked Blue. Blue frowned and said, “Kind of? I mean, I've watched a youtube video before but I don't know if I could find a specific one...”  
  
“Hey, we're at the tattoo shop, lady.” The driver suddenly called from the front, stopping the car. Aster looked out the window to see the familiar site of her shop. She opened the door and got out of the car, looking back to Blue. “I'll see what I can figure out and I'll text you.” She said to Blue as she shut the door.  
  
She watched the car drive away and then turned back to her shop, using her keys to unlock the front door and step inside. She checked the time again, 3:45- the sun would be rising in a few hours. She could either open the shop now and hope for some business (usually drunk idiots making bad decisions at this time of night) or work on trying to find information on his mysterious radio person. Aster opted for option three, keep the shop closed and relax for now. She walked up the stairs behind the counter up to her “apartment”.  
  
Her room was basically an attic converted for living purposes. Or… unliving purposes in her case. There was a bed, a dresser full of clothes, a homemade closet, a full length mirror and a desk. She had even managed to get a shower up here by hiring a contractor- although he had informed her doing so made the building out of code, but she didn't care- she liked showers too much to give them up. She tossed her new shotgun onto the bed and was about to sit down on her bed and grab her sketchbook when an idea hit her and she quickly moved over to her dresser- pulling out some rather old, holey clothes that were covered in mysterious stains. She put them on, grabbed a bag that was on the floor near her bed and set back out into the night- locking the door behind her as she left.  
  
Once on the street, Aster began her search for anyone stupid enough to be wandering the streets of Detroit alone at 4 am. She was in luck, as she spotted a college-aged boy staggering down the sidewalk not too far from her shop. He was clearly drunk from the way he walked, and he stopped for a moment to vomit profusely onto the sidewalk before continuing on. _Humans are disgusting… But this one is lucky, I'll make him beautiful._ Aster snuck up behind him, pulling a baseball bat from her bag. With a swift swing, she knocked him over the head and he hit the ground like a load of bricks. Aster smiled, placing the baseball bat back into her bag and scooping up her prize, hoisting him over her shoulder as she set off down the street, making sure to dodge any cops on the way.  
  
Aster arrived at a butcher's shop, pausing at a back door to fish her keys out of her pocket and unlocking the door. She moved swiftly inside, passing through the first freezer section where there were various hunks of meat set up to a back freezer that had a huge padlock and chain across it. Aster once again pulled her keys out, unlocking the padlock and allowing it and the chains to hit the floor. She pulled the door open and moved into the freezing cold room.  
  
Inside looked like something straight out of the imagination of a demon from Hell. Large, fleshy mounds were inside and they looked like at one point, they might have been human but were hardly recognizable as such anymore. Some of the flesh mounds were unmoving, framed up on the wall and stationary but some of them were clearly still holding on to some type of life, making unholy noises as they tried to move around. Aster looked proudly at them- her creations, her art gallery. So far, she was the only one who had seen it- it wasn't ready for the outside world yet. Some day, but not now. She paid a pretty penny to the butcher who owned this shop to keep this room for her, under threat of death if he were to try and open the door. Coming here to work on her “art” always relaxed her- doing tattoos was all fine and good but actual fleshcrafting, that was what she craved. The human body fascinated her- the way it could twist and bend and become something new; of course, sometimes a few bones had to be changed or broken but that wasn't usually a problem, Aster enjoyed the screams of her “canvas” as she worked on them anyway. Aster dropped the man she was carrying onto the ground and pulled out her phone- she wouldn't have time tonight to do anything substantial, she'll just wrap him up for now and come back tomorrow. She just wanted to make it so that she could return and get to work right away. She flipped the man onto his back, tying his hands together tightly and placing a meat hook under the chains. She turned the machine on and lifted him up towards the ceiling, leaving him to hang. She watched the blood from his head wound drip down his face and frowned, hoping he wouldn't die from the blood loss. It didn't really matter but it was more fun when they were still alive…  
  
Aster turned, going back to the door and replacing the chains and padlock. She sighed, wishing she had the time tonight to work on her art since she had a rough night but it wasn't worth the risk of getting caught in the sun. He would keep until tomorrow.  
  
Aster hurried back to her tattoo shop, getting inside as she felt the sun getting close to rising. She went back up to her room and turned her shower on, washing the blood, guts and brains off of her. She wondered for a moment if the Uber driver had noticed- maybe he thought it wasn't real or something. She scrubbed herself clean and toweled off, crashing onto the bed with a thud- the weight of the sun heavy upon her and she felt exhaustion take her.  
  
The next morning, Aster felt something standing over her as she stirred. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Needles staring down at her. “What do you want, Needles?” Aster asked, rolling over. She was still nude from the previous night, but Needles had seen her naked too many times now for it to matter. Needles shifted nervously as he said, “I'm so sorry to b-bother you, Aster but there's, uh, this guy here. Says his name is Blue and you k-know him” Aster sat up, quickly moving over to the dresser and grabbing out an outfit. She turned to Needles as she began to dress and said “Go down and tell him I'll be there in a minute.” Needles nodded, quickly exiting the room.  
  
Aster finished dressing, quickly going down the stairs and out to the waiting room where, sure enough, Blue was waiting for her. He waved at her and she just stared at him, “What are you doing here? I thought I said I'd text you.” Blue shrugged and looked around the room, “I wanted to see your shop, I was curious.” He then pointed to Needles, “Your ghoul?” Aster nodded, “Yep, that's Needles. He's pretty young- only been a ghoul for a few months but very loyal.” She then paused, frowning. She couldn't for the life of her remember how old Needles actually was. “Hey, Needles- how old are you again?”  
  
Needles looked at her and looked almost hurt, as if he couldn't believe that she had forgotten, “I'm turning 20 in a few weeks, Aster.” He said. Aster then had an idea, “Oh! Wait. Needles. Do you know how to find someone on youtube?” Needles looked surprised, and then he laughed, “Oh man, Aster. You don't know how to do that? I mean, I knew you were bad at computers but come on, that's super easy.” He kept laughing but immediately stopped when he saw the look on Aster's face. “It's not my fault that technology keeps changing at such a fast rate that I can barely keep up. When I was born, the first electrical capacitor was created. Computers weren't even a figment of imagination yet. So excuse me for being behind.”  
  
Needles put his hands up defensively, “It was just a joke, Aster, lighten up.” He moved behind the counter and bent over, straightening up with a laptop in his hands. He placed the laptop on the counter and opened it up. Immediately, loud moaning filled the room as the screen lit up, showing a video of a woman… well, let's just say, she had a good reason to be moaning. Aster rolled her eyes and Blue shook his head, “Gross.” Needles quickly moved the mouse, closing the video and his face went red. “Oops. I, uh, forgot that… I left that… playing.”Aster stared at him, unsmiling “You have strange tastes, Needles. What did that woman have in her-” “AS I was saying,” Needles interrupted, “Finding a channel on youtube is easy. What's the name of the channel?”  
  
“Eyeknowthetruth. E-y-e instead of a normal I.” Aster replied. Needles typed away and studied the screen before going “Aha, there it is.” Aster leaned in closer from behind him, trying to see the screen better. There looked to be a bunch of videos, most of them having strange, random titles such as “unboxing new radio equipment” “my new microphone is here” and the like, until a certain date a few weeks ago- then the titles began to change: “they're out there in the night” “be careful or they'll get you too” “moving to safer location” “fight the night” and the most recent one “going to the media”. Aster pointed at that video and Needles clicked on it. The video began to play and it showed a man, hidden somewhat by shadows so it was difficult to make out his features as he said, “Greetings, truthers. It is time, I'm going to the media with what I've found. These night creatures, they need to be stopped. If you find them, burn them with fire, it's the only way to put an end to them.” Aster watched the video carefully as the man had picked up whatever he using to record and was moving about the room. She spotted a window at some point and yelled, “Pause it!” and Needles hit the space bar to pause the video.  
  
Aster leaned closer to the screen, trying to get a better view, her chest practically pressed into Needles' back at this point. She studied the screen carefully, staring out the window and then smiled “Ah. I've seen that sign before.” She said, waving Blue over and pointing out a sign outside the window in the video. “It's some shitty bar not too far from here.” Blue stared at the screen too and then nodded, “Yeah I think I've seen the place while I was wandering around- although I usually stick to the parks. I like the trees.”  
  
“Anyways,” Aster said, rolling her eyes, “We should start our search in that area. But we need to be careful about it, we don't want to alert him to the fact that we're looking for him- it might cause him to flee and make our jobs that much harder.” Blue mused for a moment before he spoke, “What do you think he is, anyway? Just some asshole human? A hunter? This could be dangerous.”  
  
Aster thought for a moment and then said, “We'll treat this as if we're going after a hunter, then. Just to be safe. If he turns out just to be some jackass then no harm done. I'll be right back, I'm going to grab my gun.” Aster turned and went back up the stairs, grabbing the shotgun that laid on the floor next to her bed- she probably should be more careful about where she left the damn thing- and headed back down, strapping the gun to her back with some spare things she had found around the shop. Aster then looked to Needles and said, “You can have the night off if you want- go deal with your girlfriend problem or whatever.” Needles shook his head sadly, “Actually, I'll stay here… I don't really want to talk about it.” and he just left the room, heading down into the storage basement. Aster shook her head, she just didn't understand humans sometimes- she thought she was emotional sometimes but nothing compared to humans.  
  
With that, Aster looked at Blue and asked if he was ready, to which Blue nodded and they headed out, walking to the bar that they were familiar with. Once there, they stopped on the street and Aster closed her eyes, trying to recall the angle of the sign in relation to the window. She looked at the nearby buildings, trying to decide which one was at the right spot to see the sign the way she had seen it. And there was one- perfectly aligned to match what she had seen. Sadly, it had around 20 stories and she was unsure which floor the guy would be on. She pointed out the building to Blue and they headed inside.  
  
Once inside, Aster noticed there was some type of desk at the front where a seedy-looking man sat. She wandered over to him, leaning over the desk and smiling in a way that she hoped looked sweet. The man looked up at her… and then down at her chest. She tried not to frown and she said “Hi there, I'm looking for a friend of mine- I met him online and he wanted me to stop by for some… fun.” She used a sultry tone, hoping that this guy would be too distracted by her “assets” to call her out on her bullshit. He looked up at her face again for a moment and replied, “I'm not supposed to give out information of the people who live here- I'm security after all, I'm supposed to keep them safe.” Aster changed her smile to a sad frown, leaning forward even further to give him a better view of her cleavage- making a mental note to herself to heavily shower later. “Please, sir, I don't mean him any harm- I just want to see my long time friend. He's very shy so he didn't want me to come but… I just care for him so much and he's been scaring me lately with all these talks of being depressed… I won't tell a soul if you just point me in his direction.” The guy, who had once again been staring at her boobs, then seemed to look past her and Aster suddenly became very aware of the shotgun resting on her back and she froze. The guy looked back at her, raising an eyebrow as he said, “No harm, huh? Then why are you packing heat?”  
  
“Oh, that? It's a replica. You know how men are with their toys- I had this made for him but I didn't want it to get damaged from bumping around in the car so I put in the safest place I know- on my back.” She once again smiled at him and he stared at her deadpan, no smile on his face. Aster sighed, she knew that she was getting no where and quickly, so she dropped the act. “Listen, buddy, I just need to see this guy about something important- no, I have no plans to shoot him, this is just for **my** protection. He might be dangerous. Now, what do I need to do for you to get the information I need?” The guard leaned back, looking her over and crossing his arms over his chest. “Why didn't you say that in the first place? If he's possibly dangerous then my boss isn't going to want him here. What do you know about him?” Aster thought back to the video and gave any and all descriptions she could- it was difficult, most of his features had been hidden by clever lighting, and she mentioned he was on the radio. The guard then went, “Oh that kid? Yeah I know who he is- fucking weirdo. He stalks around all the time down here, muttering to himself about all this crazy shit, asking me to keep out the 'night stalkers' that are after him. He's insane, I was looking to ask to have him kicked out anyway- yeah, he's in 8E. Elevator is out, though, you'll have to take the stairs.” Aster thanked him for his information and Blue waved to the guard as they walked to the stairwell doorway and opened it- heading up to the 8th floor.  
  
Once on the 8th floor, they opened the door from the stairwell into the hallway and looked around- the place looked like shit. Garbage littered the halls and it seemed none of the apartments were sound proof, Aster and Blue could hear people screaming, kids playing and yelling, people fucking, etc. Blue tapped Aster on the arm and pointed at the letters on the door and she saw they went in ascending order up the one side of the hallway. Blue began to head up the hall and Aster followed behind, stopping with him as they got to 8E. Aster looked to Blue and asked, “So… do we just knock? Or what?”  
  
As if in response to her question, the door flew open and Aster saw a man standing there, a deranged look on his face, pointing a gun at her. She noticed his hand shaking and he began to yell, “I knew it! I knew you were after me! I won't be silenced, you can't stop me. I'll tell everyone about you, all of you! I need to keep everyone safe!” Aster didn't know what to do- she didn't think she could talk down a crazy man and talking was all she was really good at. Before she knew it, she saw Blue move into the room, tackling the guy down to the ground and holding him. He then turned to Aster and yelled “Shoot him!”  
  
Aster moved into the room, slamming the door behind her to keep any prying eyes out, and she pulled her shotgun off her back, pointing it at the man's face. She went to pull the trigger when the man hissed and she noticed… “Fangs! He's got fangs! He's a vampire.” She called to Blue, who was struggling with all his might to keep the guy down. “Th-that's nice, Aster. Doesn't really help me here, though.” Blue replied. Aster looked around the room, spotting a wooden coffee table. She rushed over and kicked one of the legs out, then took the leg and smashed it against a wall, knocking a good, sharp piece off wood and ran back over to the struggling vampire, slamming the stake into his chest. Immediately, the vampire stopped moving- paralyzed by the stake in his chest. Blue hopped up, looking down at the vampire, clearly confused “Why the hell was he acting like that if he was a vampire too?” Aster shrugged in response, “Maybe he had a bad embrace or something, I don't know. Anyway, I think we should take him to the Bishop instead of killing him.” “Sounds like a plan,” Blue agreed, picking up the vampire and putting him over his shoulder. Together, the two of them set out and went to make their way to where the Bishop was…  
  
...Except they had no idea where that was. Fuck, they had forgotten to ask. Or get anyone's contact information. Or give anyone their contact information. Shit. Aster and Blue just stood on the street, with Blue holding a staked vampire over his shoulder. “We can't just stand out here, someone's gonna see this jackass and call the cops or something. Let's just go back to my shop for now.” Blue nodded, and the two of them headed back to Aster's tattoo shop. Once inside, Aster looked around- there were no customers thankfully, and either Needles had left or was still sulking in the basement, so she locked the door. Aster motioned for Blue to follow her up to her room and he threw the staked vampire onto her bed. “So...what do we do now?” Blue asked. Aster sat down on her bed next to the staked vampire, crossing her legs, “Well the way I see it, we have two options. Option one, we search around the city like assholes, looking for another Cainites and asking where to find Czar- that way everyone can know how much of idiots we are. Or, we can wait- the Bishop gave us this task, I'm sure he will realize we didn't get his contact information and send someone… right?”  
  
As if in answer to her question, a knock came from downstairs on the glass door of the shop. Aster looked at Blue and then rushed down the stairs, seeing a huge man standing on the other side of the glass. Aster unlocked the door and opened it, and the man looked down at her but said nothing. Aster felt awkward as he just stared, “Uhh… you lookin' for a tattoo or something buddy? Shop's closed so...” The man put up a large hand and spoke, his Russian accent so thick that Aster could barely make out the words, “The Czar is looking for you. He gave you job and you have not reported. Come.”  
  
Aster nodded and said, “Yes, this is exactly what I was hoping for actually- let me get my friend and the guy we caught.” Before he could reply, she turned and ran back up the stairs, motioning to Blue to pick up the staked vampire- “Seems like luck is on our side. Or Czar is mad at us. Either way, his guy is here to get us.” Blue nodded and the two of them headed down the stairs, outside and into the car, escorted by the large Russian man. Blue stopped and dropped the staked vampire into the trunk and they were off.  
  
They arrived at a rather large office building, and the large Russian man opened the door for Aster and Blue, then moved to the trunk and grabbed the staked vampire out. He then lead the way, carrying their new “friend” over his shoulder, and making sure Aster and Blue kept close behind. At the door were a few large men as well, Aster assumed Russian as well, and they opened the doors for them. Inside, it looked like a pretty normal receptionist area, complete with an actual receptionist. Aster looked around, she was only slightly surprised- she knew some vampires chose to mask their undead lifestyles but she rarely got to witness it in action. The large man they were with then ushered them to an elevator, they got in and the elevator began to move.  
  
The elevator reached the top floor and the three of them stepped out into a large, beautiful office. At the end of the office was a beautiful, wooden desk, which Czar was leaning against with his arms folded across his chest- he looked rather displeased. Aster looked to the side of the room and saw the Hell's Rejects there, some of them covered in blood and bullet holes and they looked almost afraid- like the way a kid with abusive parents would look when their parents got a bit too angry, before the abuse starts. The man who had escorted Aster and Blue walked to the middle of the room and unceremoniously threw the staked vampire onto the ground and then moved back to the side of the elevator, standing the same way a bodyguard would. Aster was unsure what to do, was she supposed to say something or…? But then, Czar spoke.  
  
“I am unhappy.” He said simply, and Aster felt a twinge of unease. Had they fucked up somehow? But then he continued, “Now, you two,” he said, looking to Aster and Blue, “is this who hired those 'Kings' thugs?” Aster nodded, “Yes, Your Excellency, when we found him we were quite surprised to find that he was a Cainite, so we staked him to bring him to you.”  
  
Czar smiled slightly, pushing himself off his desk and walking over to the staked vampire, looking down on him. He looked back to Aster and Blue, “This,” He gestured down to the staked vampire, “This makes me happier. You two completed your task and you did it well- better than I can say for them.” He pointed to the Hell's Rejects, most of whom looked away. Then suddenly, one of them stepped forward, “Hey man, we did what we could- we didn't expect a small army to be there and yeah, the head guy got away but we got most of them!”  
  
Aster felt the tension in the room reach a new point, most of the other Hell's Rejects stared at their comrade in almost horror, as if they couldn't believe what he had just done. Czar's face went emotionless and he rounded on the Hell's Reject member who spoke out- grabbing his arm in one, swift motion and **crack** \- the arm was broken. Czar then put his hand over the guy's mouth and suddenly, there was no mouth there any longer, like it had been wiped away. _Oh, so he knows Vicissitude as well…_ Aster thought as she watched this all happen. Then the guy was thrown back onto the floor, clutching his broken arm and making strange sounds as he scrambled away. Czar looked over at all the Hell's Rejects and, in a tone seething with anger, “You have already failed me and next one of you to speak out of turn will receive worse. Just stand there and be silent.” The rest of the Hell's Rejects nodded, most of them looking down to avoid Czar's gaze.  
  
Then, Czar turned back to the staked vampire and reached down, grabbing the stake. “Let's see what this one has to say for himself.” He said, pulling the stake out. Immediately, the vampire jumped up and began to hiss, freaking out. “I'll never tell you shit, I'll die first. Come at me fuckers, I'll kill you all!” He looked feral and Aster recognized it as a fear-fueled frenzy. They weren't going to get anything out of him this way. Czar seemed to recognize this too as he swiftly replaced the stake and the vampire froze once again. He then thought for a moment and returned to his desk, leaning on it once more. Then he spoke again, “I have an idea. I believe it is time for a Bat Race.” He said, looking to the Hell's Rejects and then to Blue and Aster. “You have a chance to redeem yourselves Hell's Rejects- see if you can best the newcomers, since it already seems like they're doing better than you.” Several of the Hell's Rejects glared at Aster and Blue, and Aster looked away- she didn't really want to have people pissed off with her over petty shit like this.  
  
Czar then clapped his massive hands, causing Aster to jump. She looked at him and he said “Very well then, if there's no objections, the Bat Race shall commence in three days time. My receptionist will contact everyone with the exact time and location. And I shall keep our guest until then. Now, everyone get the hell out of my office.”  
  
With that, Aster and Blue, as well as the Hell's Rejects, scrambled for the elevator to get out. All of them piled in, making for a very awkward and uncomfortable ride down. As soon as they got outside, that woman- Silver- stopped in front of them. “Just to let you two know, we shall be winning that Bat Race and regaining our lost favor- so I hope you didn't plan on winning. It might be better for you two to not show up at all.” _Oh, it's on now_ Aster honestly hadn't cared about the Bat Race, she didn't even have plans to win, but she did **not** like being challenged. Then, before she could stop herself, she said “Oh is that a fact, bitch? I'm going to make sure you have to work twice as hard to win now, and then right when you think you won, I'll steal the victory away from you. No one challenges **me**. Now, get out of my face before I eliminate some competition right here.” Silver narrowed her eyes at Aster, then stepped back slightly, shrugging “Talk is talk, let's see you back up those actions. See you at the Bat Race.”  
  
Blue looked at Aster and sighed, “Why'd you have to go and mouth off like that?” and Aster shrugged, “I don't like being talked down to. Fuck 'em. We'll win that Bat Race with… teamwork. Ya, know, us two verses.. well, they have more than two but fuck 'em anyway.” Aster then pulled out her phone and said, “Well, I guess I'll call us an Uber- let's rest up and get ready for that Bat Race.” And the two of them headed to their respective havens.


	3. The Bat Race

A few relatively uneventful days passed- Aster worked in her shop, went to the butcher shop one night to finish her “art project” (unfortunately, the head wound had killed the kid, which disappointed her greatly, so she used his flesh to improve another living piece) and readied herself for the Bat Race. She generally knew what a Bat Race was, though she had never participated in one herself. She remembered talking to her sire once about the games played by the Sabbat- he had always thought they were savage and barbaric. She wasn't so sure she agreed, some of them seemed fun, but she didn't want to upset him and chose to keep her opinions to herself.  
  
From what Aster understood, a Bat Race was when the “Bat”- a vampire (almost always someone who needed to die for some reason- a traitor, a spy, killed another Sabbat, something like that) was placed in a locked area- usually an abandoned building. Within that building, weapons were usually scattered about, and then packs of the local Sabbat would be locked in with said vampire. The “Race” part came from the competing Sabbat packs to get to the “Bat” first, kill them and diablerie them. Now, it wasn't just a free for all on the “Bat” - he or she also had access to the weapons and could defend themselves. If they somehow managed to kill all the packs that were after them, they earned their freedom- though Aster had heard tales of vampires managing this, only to be executed anyway in private.  
  
Aster knew it would be dangerous- ideally, the Hell's Rejects shouldn't kill her, she was pretty sure that was against the rules. But she wouldn't put it past any Sabbat to just kill her anyway and blame it on their target. It was all around a dangerous situation, and Aster really wasn't looking forward to participating- why did she need to put her life on the line for this shit?  
  
From nearby, Aster heard her phone chirp and she grabbed it- a text message there detailing the time of the race and the location. Tomorrow evening, dark and early, in place not too far from her shop thankfully. She figured she'd have to walk- she had never bothered to buy a car, everything she needed was easily available downtown within walking distance. But now she was rethinking that decision- maybe it was time get a car if she was going to be running errands all over for the Bishop. She threw her phone back onto her bed, leaned back and grabbed her pack of cigarettes, placing one into her mouth and lighting it. She inhaled the smoke, the ashy, tar-like taste filling her mouth, and exhaled through her nose.  
  
Her mind drifted again to the Bat Race and to her new partner, Blue. She wondered if he was any good at fighting- she hoped so; Aster was never much of a combatant herself. Sure, she'd gotten into a few good scrapes in her time, although she avoided it at all cost. Why endanger yourself when it wasn't always necessary? But some vampires liked to flex their strength and words were lost of them. They wanted to prove they had the biggest dick in the room and more than once, Aster had to defend herself against those types. She had skill with a knife thanks to years of medical training- after all, before her Embrace, she was a very skilled doctor. She knew where to stab and how hard to make someone die pretty quickly but such things were less effective against vampires. She also knew how to shoot a gun thanks to one of her old pack-mates, a Tzimisce named Claud that Aster had been very close to. She… He… They had taught her so much, looking after her after Aster's sire had vanished. She learned her path from them, how to defend herself, how to improve her fleshcrafting and so much more. It was almost a tearful goodbye when Aster left her pack to seek out her sire. Claud hadn't wanted her to leave, but Aster's love for her sire made her very soul ache and she could not stand it any longer.  
  
With one last inhale, Aster finished off her cigarette and placed the butt in the tray she kept on her desk next to her bed and immediately lit another cigarette. She grabbed her phone again and sent off a text to Blue.

  


Hey- did you get the time and location?  
  
                                                                                                                                                                               Yeah – you nervous?  
  
I just hope you're better at fighting than I am or we're fucked.    
  
                                                                                                                                                                                    Oh great.  
  
I'll see you there tomorrow- put on your war face. We're gonna  
win. Probably. Maybe.  
                                                                                                                                                                      I'm filled with confidence.  


  


And with that, Aster shook her head, reaching over for the power cord for her phone and plugging in her phone. She checked the time, 4:30 AM, and decided to take a quick shower and go to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a hell of a night.  
  
The next night, Aster woke up decently late- as she always did. For some reason, she always seemed to struggle with coming out of her resting state and waking up mid-day was all but impossible for her. She knew other Cainites also struggled with this, but not nearly to the degree she did. She looked at the time on her phone, 9:30 PM. She had an hour and a half to get ready and get to the location. She went to her dresser and began to root around for something suitable to wear- for some reason, she felt her restrictive vest/corset combo that she normally wore would be a poor choice for this. She opted for a t-shirt that was emblazoned with a skeletal hand flipping the bird, the words above it stating “Ask if I give a fuck.” She then grabbed a pair of pants that were almost like leggings- they were flexible and that was the important part. She decided to pass on any jewelry save for a choker made of ribbon- too easy to get caught on something or pulled by someone. She pulled out of a pair of boots from the back of her closet- they looked more like combat boots but had a rose design embroidered on the side. She also grabbed some gloves from her dresser- hoping that they would help keep her hands from getting torn up if she took a spill. Once she was all dressed, she looked in the mirror- functional and stylish, just the way she liked. She grabbed her shotgun, wrapping it in a sheet to better conceal the fact that she walking around with a weapon and strapped it to her back again. With that, she began walking to the location.  
  
She arrived at the location a bit early, having some time to kill before the race started. She looked around and was surprised to see a number of vampires gathered- she guessed they came to spectate. Several of them were standing around cars chatting, making small bonfires and it seemed they were taking bets. _Hope no one bets on me and Blue, they're gonna lose money._ Aster thought wryly to herself. Before long, she heard the sound of a motorcycle pulling up and she looked over to see Blue driving it. He parked it and hopped off, walking over to Aster with a goofy smile on his face. “Hey,” he called as he got close. Aster looked him over and notice a distinct lack of weapons which instantly made her nerves flare up. “Uhh, did you come prepared?” She asked.  
  
“Of course but I use knives mostly.” He patted his jacket and she heard a clanking sound of metal. Aster had brought a knife too, a trusty one she had had for a few years- just a pocket knife but it was better than nothing. She really outta upgrade- get a switch blade or something. “So, what's our strategy here?” Blue asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts.  
  
Aster thought about it for a moment- for all the time she had spent thinking of this race, she actually hadn't thought of a real strategy for the two of them. Oh well, time to make something up. “Well, we stick together and work as a team unless we are forced to separate.” She said. _Brilliant. Real winner of an idea, you moron._ Blue shrugged, “Sounds good to me. So we going straight for the guy?”  
  
“Yep, straight for him- avoid the Hell's Rejects at all costs. I don't know how likely it is that they'll play fair.” Aster replied, looking over to where the Hell's Rejects were standing by the door. Some of them saw her staring and decided to taunt her with various rude gestures, to which Aster returned with a rude gesture of her own.  
  
Then, Aster saw Czar walk out of the doors, followed by some of his goons. They shut the doors behind  them and stood against them. Czar then waved over Blue and Aster, to which both of them walked over to him. Once they stood before him, next to the Hell's Rejects, Czar raised his hands up and a hush fell over the gathered crowd. He then spoke, his booming voice almost seeming to echo, “Sword of Caine- it is good to see you all tonight. It has been some time since we last had a Bat Race. Tonight, the Hell's Rejects will be against the two newcomers for the right to diablerie the traitor inside. The weapons have already been placed inside and the stake has been removed- now it's time for our contestants to enter the building.” Czar then looked to the Hell's Rejects and Aster and Blue, speaking straight to them. “Remember, the door shall not be opened until either the traitor or all of you are dead. Do not disappoint me.” And with that, the two goons opened the door and all of them headed inside. The door then slammed loudly behind them and Aster could hear the sounds of chains and locks being placed on the doors.  
  
Immediately, the Hell's Rejects set off- it seemed they had come up with a plan from the get go. Aster and Blue, however, looked at each other and walked forward into the main room. It looked as though they were in an abandoned office building. From the main area, what was once a receptionist area from what Aster could tell, there were two hallways. Wordlessly, Aster started to head down the right hallway- pulling the shotgun off her back and readying it, just in case. She turned back to speak to Blue but then found herself alone. “Shit.” She muttered before she heard a yell. She turned back around, returning back to the main area and down the other hall. There she saw Blue standing still and Silver holding a sword to his neck. Aster stomped down toward her, “Hey!” she called out, catching Silver's attention, “Just what the hell do you think you're doing?”  
  
Silver smirked, removing the blade and re-sheathing it- “Your friend is lucky.” She said coldly, “I almost took his head off.”  
  
“Yeah I'd appreciate it if you didn't do that.” Blue said, glaring at her. Silver didn't reply, she just rolled her eyes and said “Why don't you two do yourselves a favor and stay out of our way? Let the real Cainites handle this.” And she sped off at an incredible speed before Aster and Blue could reply. Aster then rounded to Blue, “Where the fuck did you go?”  
  
“Where did **I** go? I thought you were following me.” Blue retorted, crossing his arms over his chest. Aster was about to reply when the sounds of gunfire overhead interrupted her. Instantly, their argument forgotten, they took off- looking for a way to get up to the higher floors. Unfortunately, they were unable to find access to any stairs, both of them figuring the Hell's Rejects had found a way to block them off- assholes. Frustrated, Aster kicked a nearby desk as she heard more sounds of gunfire. Yep, they were going to lose- the Hell's Rejects were already fighting and probably winning.  
  
Suddenly, Aster was struck with an idea. She and Blue had separated again in an attempt to find a way up and Aster looked up at the ceiling of the room she was in. Sure enough, in the decayed state of the ceiling, there were holes. She found one that looked barely big enough for her to fit through and located a desk that was underneath. She stood on the desk and readied herself to jump, pushing off with as much force as she could and grabbing the edge of the hole. She then pulled herself up into the ceiling, crawling around in the space underneath the floor until she found another opening that she could get out of. She began to squeeze through when a bullet whizzed past her face and she stopped, turning to the source of the bullet. There she saw one of the Hell's Rejects but it looked like he had seen better days- he was a bloody mess on the floor. He looked terrified, holding his side where Aster could see some of his entrails were hanging out. His leg was missing as well. He pointed the gun at her, hand shaking and he began to yell, “That dude is crazy! Motherfucker popped up out of nowhere with a fucking chainsaw!”  
  
With a groan, Aster crawled out from the floor, standing up once she was free. She walked over to the Hell's Reject member and kneeled down, inspecting his wounds carefully- the flesh was torn haphazardly. It was a mess. She didn't know if he'd recover, but she didn't really care. She watched as his eyes began to glaze over and he stopped moving, she figured he passed out from the pain. She pushed him to the side, out of the middle of the room so no one would step on him and continued on. She walked carefully, trying to be stealthy- if the guy had a chainsaw, she didn't want him to catch her by surprise.  
  
After several minutes of searching, Aster came across a shut door- it looked like it lead to a break room of some type. She readied her shotgun, gently opening the door. Inside the room was pitch black and she reached over to find a light-switch and flicked it with a loud _click!_ once she had located it- but nothing happened. Why the hell she thought this building would still have power, she'd never know. But she did manage to find something in the dark- a loud, growling type sound that started as soon as she flicked the switch. Aster began to back out of the room and suddenly found herself in immense pain.  
  
It felt as though every nerve in her stomach was being ripped apart violently, the pain almost unlike anything else she had ever felt before. She dropped her shotgun and heard someone screaming… no, that was her. She was screaming, loudly, overwhelmed by the pain. Then, she felt whatever was tearing her apart move away and she collapsed onto the ground, pain and anger overwhelming her mind and body. She growled, feeling a frenzy coming on. She welcomed the frenzy but willed herself to control it, she didn't need to attack anyone on accidentally- only the piece of shit that had hurt her. As she went to push herself up off the ground, she heard footsteps scurry past and the full force of her frenzy came- he needed to die. Now.  
  
She took off after the footsteps, running the fastest she had in a long time. Rage blinded her as she knocked anything in her way out of the way. She then saw from her side someone approaching, but she knew it wasn't who she was after so she ignored him, following where she thought her assailant had gone. She heard Blue's voice behind her, “Aster! I heard you screaming, are you okay?”  
  
Aster growled loudly, a sharp “ **No.** ” escaping her. The two of them rounded a corner just in time to see the door to a room in front of them slam shut. It looked like some type of maintenance room. Without hesitation, Aster slammed against the door full-force, kicking it and hitting it as hard as she could. Blue sighed from behind her and went over, trying the handle- locked. Aster let out a louder growl, clawing at the door viciously- he was in there, she knew it. He must die. Die now!  
  
She saw Blue moving around the doorknob, some type of tool in his hand. She didn't care, she would break down the door even if it broke every bone in her body. Suddenly, the door was open, Blue must have done something. Aster rushed into the room without a second thought and…. **vroom** the chainsaw struck her again, this time catching her arm- violently ripping it off. That was the last straw, Aster turned, not even feeling the pain of losing her arm, and grabbed the base of the chainsaw. She pushed it with all her might back toward the wielder, pushing it deeply into his shoulder. He screamed in pain and the sound encouraged Aster as she pushed harder and harder, until the chainsaw began to sputter- the motor couldn't take it anymore and it began to die.  
  
The vampire looked at Aster, terror on his face. He looked like he, too, was in near frenzy. But Aster didn't care. She grabbed him with her remaining hand and pushed him down, pouncing on him and sinking her teeth into his non-chainsawed shoulder. She drained him, savoring in the feeling of the blood filling her and when the blood ran dry, she continued to drain- drinking in his very essence.  
  
Aster had never diableried before and didn't know what to expect. A strange sensation filled her and she  felt new power flow through her. Along with this power, a euphoria entered her. She felt amazing and she pushed away the vampire's dead and drained body and she slumped against a nearby wall. She focused for a moment, using her blood to heal her injuries as much as possible, including replacing her arm. She looked down at her “new” arm, cracking her wrist loudly and making a fist. All sound around her sounded like a dull hum as she enjoyed the sensations of her diablerie, unaware of the passage of time, but then she felt a hand on her shoulder.  
  
She looked up to see Blue, his mouth moving but she couldn't make out the words. He extended a hand to her and she took it. He pulled her to her feet and the world swayed for a moment around her, she used a nearby wall to steady herself. She put her hands to her face, rubbing her face gently as she felt the world slowly coming down around her. She started to become aware of a dull pain in her gut and arm. Blue extended his arm, wrapping it around her shoulders to keep her steady. Together, they walked out of the small maintenance room and into the next room.  
  
In the next room, the Hell's Rejects were gathered, looking surprised. Aster, who now was filled with pain again and a slight headache, looked at them. She gave a smirk as she spoke, her voice strained from the pain, “Too late, assholes. We win.”  
  
The Hell's Rejects looked at each other, some of them muttering to each other and then Silver stepped forward, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at Aster, “Well. Congratulations.” She said, her voice tense. She looked back to her pack and motioned at them, “Let's go, boys. There's nothing else for us here.” And with that, the group took off.  
  
Aster watched them walk away, placing a bit more of her weight on Blue as it became more difficult to stand up. She then gasped, “My shotgun!” Blue shot her a look, “You… can't be serious, Aster.” He said, sounding a bit exhausted- if it was from dealing with her or from the whole ordeal, she wasn't sure.  
  
“I left it in the other room. It's my only gun.” Aster said, starting to head over in that direction. Blue, however, didn't move and stared directly at her, his face emotionless. He then removed his arm from her and she fell to her knees. “I'll go get it, just wait here.” He said, a long sigh leaving him as he walked out of the room. He returned a moment later, the shotgun in his hand. He handed it to Aster with an annoyed look and she took it. Blue then bent down, scooping Aster up in his arms and carrying her towards the stairs. Aster frowned at him, “I'm not a cripple, I can walk.” She muttered and he rolled his eyes, “Yeah but not very well and I want to get the fuck out of here.”  
  
Once they got to the entrance, Blue put Aster back down and he pushed the door open. Aster continued walking with Blue, now she had put her arm around him for support. Outside the building, the spectators were still gathered and they looked over Aster and Blue in shock. Aster noticed that the Hell's Rejects had left _heh, probably ashamed some nobody newcomers beat them…_ and Czar made his way over to them. He clapped his hands together, smiling proudly down at them. “Well done! Well done!” He said, patting Aster on the back- causing a new wave of pain to shoot through her that she hoped didn't show on her face. She was not so lucky as Czar laughed, “Took a beating, huh? Hey, as long as you win, who cares?” Some of the nearby vampires laughed, though Aster was pretty sure they were just laughing at her pain.  
  
“Your Excellency, not to be rude, but can we leave now? I think I need to rest.” Aster said, holding an arm over her stomach-  though the wound had closed, it was still quite painful and her body screamed for her to lay down and rest. Czar waved them off with a smile, “Very well, go rest. I'm sure I will be calling on you two soon to help me out.” Nodding, Blue and Aster made their way over to Blue's bike and he offered Aster a ride, which she happily accepted. She got on the back of the bike after him, wrapping her arms around him to stay on and he drove to her tattoo shop.  
  
The shop was still open but it seemed to be empty- no surprise, it was getting really early in the morning. Aster could see Needles from the shop windows as they pulled up. Blue stopped his bike close to the door and hopped off, helping Aster off the bike. As soon as Blue opened the door, Needles looked up from his phone and gasped, rushing over to Blue and Aster.  
  
“Woah, woah, woah, what happened? Is she okay? How's she get so hurt? Oh shit. This is bad.”  
  
Aster held up her hand, looking at him and said, “Holy shit, Needles, shut up. I'm fine, just a bit banged up. I just need to rest.” She pushed away from Blue and made her way towards the stairs. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, turning back around for a moment and smiling at Blue, “Hey, thanks for helping me out today, man. I owe you.” She said.  
  
Blue smiled back at her and nodded, “It's no problem but yeah, you owe me.” And he turned, walking out of the shop. Aster pulled herself up the stairs, collapsing onto her bed. She reached out weakly, grabbing a cigarette from her pack and lighting it. She inhaled it deeply and sighed- she hated it when she was right sometimes. It was a hell of a night.


	4. Enter: The Hand

A few weeks past and it was almost as if everything had gone back to normal, nothing too crazy had happened. Aster went back to work at the shop, itching to get back to tattooing after her few crazy days off. Blue would stop in on occasion and they'd chat. Aster was honestly surprised that she had found another vampire to get along with, it had been nearly 180 years since she had any type of “friend.” Yes, all was quiet for now and for this, Aster was grateful.   
  
Another night had started and Aster was at the shop with Blue, chatting while Needles was in the other room working on a client. They had just been talking about non-sense things when, abruptly, there was an explosion from down the street. Aster and Blue paused in their conversation and looked toward the source of the sound. “What the hell?” Aster asked, walking to the window of her shop and looking outside to see what was going on.   
  
At first, she didn't see anything- another dark night in Detroit. Then, down on the far end of the street, she saw something that looked like flashing lights and the sound of gunfire. “Seriously?” Aster muttered, turning to look at Blue. He looked at her, confused, “What is it?”   
  
“I dunno, some gangs fighting or some shit probably. Assholes. I hate it when this happens on my street.” She leaned against the window, angrily crossing her arms over her chest. Sadly, she'd seen a few gang fights on her street and streets near the shop- good ol' Detroit. She was about to resume her conversation with Blue when she heard the gunshots getting closer. Aster turned back to the window and frowned, looking out again. Sure enough, the gun fight was getting closer.   
  
Aster let out a loud groan, “You have got to be kidding me. They better not come down here or I swear to Caine… They're gonna scare my customers off.” Well, customer. There was only one. She turned and went to the room where Needles was working with said customer and leaned on the wall, “Yo.” She said softly, trying not to spook Needles as he worked. Last time she did that, he royally fucked up a tattoo and she lost a $300 sale.   
  
Thankfully, she managed not to scare him. He stopped what he was doing and looked up, “Hey boss, what is it?” Aster sighed and shook her head as she spoke, “Just a heads up for you two. Some idiots are fighting in the street with guns so… I don't know, do something to stay safe. Maybe like, don't go outside right now.” And with that, she pushed herself off the wall and went back to the main room.   
  
Blue was now standing at the window, watching. He turned to Aster as she walked back into the room, and opened his mouth to say something but whatever it was, Aster couldn't hear it over the sound of shattering glass that filled her shop. Bullets hailed into the shop, shattering every window and even the door. The bullets embedded themselves into the walls behind Aster and Blue, who both dropped to the floor as soon as they realized what was happening. As Aster went to pick herself up off the floor, careful to not place her hands on any glass (a nearly impossible task), she heard the squealing of tires and another explosion.    
  
As soon as Aster stood up, she looked around her shop- irritation radiating through her as she looked at the destruction. _This is going to cost **so much** to fix!_ She looked out to where the windows once were to see what the fuck was going on and was surprised by what she saw.   
  
Clearly, she was wrong- this wasn't just some idiot gang fight. No, there was something more going on here. Four people had gotten out of one car and were actively shooting at two other cars, one of which seems to have had its tires popped out. But Aster noticed something strange- a man standing on top of one of the cars, holding a huge mini-gun, raining bullets into the other car like it was nothing, a cigarette  in his mouth as he fired away. _What in the fuck? Is that motherfucker crazy_? She then ducked as another hail of bullet rained into her shop and her irritation quickly returned.   
  
From near her, Aster heard Blue shout “What the fuck do we do?” Aster looked over in his direction and she growled, “We go out there and shoot them until they stop shooting my fucking shop!” She quickly got to her feet and moved as fast as she could to the stairs, running up and grabbing her  shotgun and heading back down. She pumped the shotgun as she got to the bottom of the stairs and kicked open what was remaining of the door and stepped outside.   
  
Aster paused once she stepped outside, quickly realizing that she had no idea who she was fighting or who to shoot- thankfully, someone made that decision easy for her when they started to shoot at her. She quickly turned her attention to her attacker and returned fire while seeking cover to shield herself from the bullets coming at her and she ducked behind a parked car. She noted that it wasn't the group who had the mini-gun guy who was shooting her- it was the group that they were fighting. She didn't care though, she just wanted all of them to go away from her shop at the very least- though she was quite annoyed someone had the balls to shoot at her. She looked over to where Blue was and saw that he too was fighting someone, though it was in melee combat.   
  
The gunshots rang loudly through the streets, there was some yelling from both sides but Aster barely paid attention- she was more focused on not getting shot and taking down anyone who had the nerve to attack her. The back and forth went on for several minutes when suddenly, several cars rounded the corner ahead and started to speed toward all of them. This seemed to spook the vampires that Aster and Blue were fighting and they jumped back, calling out to their companions “Come on, you fuckers, we're out of time! Let's get the fuck out of here!” Aster heard a voice call to them, the man with the mini-gun had thrown it aside and yelled out, “Oh no you don't, you're not going anywhere!” but as he said that, they were already piling in their car and pulling away. He looked agitated and turned his attention to the cars approaching.   
  
The cars skidded to a stop and men started to get out of them and Aster recognized some of them as the Bishop's men. They were armed and one of them stepped forward, looking pissed off. He pointed at the four vampires near the car and said “You four- go to the Bishop's office. Now. No excuses.” Aster heard one of the four mutter a string of curses under their breath as they piled into the car. They took off in the direction of the Bishop's office.   
  
The man then turned his attention to Aster and Blue, opening the backseat door of the car he had been driving- making a motion for them to get inside. “The Czar wants to see the both of you, too.” His tone was cold. Aster felt nervous but she complied, waiting for Blue to slide into the backseat before sitting down next to him. She leaned over to him and whispered, “How fucked do you think we are?” Blue looked back at her and then shrugged, “It's not like we did anything wrong- they were shooting up your shop after all, it should be fine.” But Aster wasn't so sure. She sat in silence, watching out the window as they drove, wondering just what in the fuck happened. Who were those four and who were they shooting at? She hoped there would be answers when they saw the Czar.   
  
The drive didn't take long and once they arrived, Aster saw the other car that had been outside her shop already parked and empty- she assumed the occupants were already inside. The Czar's man opened the door for her and Blue and they stepped out. He then accompanied them inside, keeping close by as if to make sure they wouldn't run away. The elevator opened as normal and the three stepped inside- the ride up to the top floor as awkward as ever as they all stood in silence, Aster quite sure that if her heart had still been beating, it'd be pounding with nerves.   
The elevator doors opened and the three stepped out and into a huge scene. The Czar was yelling at someone Aster couldn't quite see yet- whoever it was seemed to be seated at Czar's desk and Czar's large form was blocking them from view. On one side of the room were three of the four occupants of the one car and Aster recognized a familiar face- Silver. Next to her was a man she had never seen before- not even at the Sabbat meeting and beside him, a Nosferatu. They all looked... almost bored and perhaps a bit agitated. She hadn't managed to really get a good look at any of them when they were out on the street- the darkness of the night and lack of hardly any working streetlights made it difficult to  make their features out. She was confused as to why Silver was with them, though. She had thought maybe they were a pack but she was already in the Hell's Rejects, wasn't she?   
  
Speaking of the Hell's Rejects, they were on the other side of the room and they were glaring daggers at Silver. _Wonder what that's about…_ Aster thought when a sudden, loud noise made her jump. The Czar had slammed his hand onto his desk and yelled, “Are you even listening to me?!” Aster tore her attention away from the Hell's Rejects to look at Czar and saw that he had moved to the side and she could see the occupant of the desk. A man sat there, a grin on his face. He was leaning back in the Czar's chair, his boots on the desk. He had snowy white hair and was quite muscular, which wasn't difficult to tell since he wasn't wearing a shirt under his leather jacket. His pants were similar to military-style cargo pants (maybe they were military pants, Aster had no clue) and he wore combat boots that looked to be pretty heavy. Aster couldn't help but notice several scars on his chest, _Hmm, seems like he's been in some decent fights._ and that he was… well, he was handsome. She tried not to stare as he reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a zippo, lit up a cigarette and took a deep drag from it. It really didn't seem like he gave a shit that the Czar was outright screaming at him. _Does he have a death wish or something? How insane do you have to be?_  
  
The Czar then stopped screaming for a moment and pointed at the man, “You will answer me, Watch Commander, if you want to continue to operate downtown. But if you continue to push me, I'll make your job as hard as fucking possible, trust me. Just what in the hell were you doing on that street?” The man continued to stare at the Czar for a moment and then he finally spoke, his tone full of arrogance- “I was just waiting for you to finally shut the hell up.” He took another drag of his cigarette, flicking the ashes onto the floor of the office. “You know, your boys just interrupted an operation that my kamut had been working on for weeks. And they caused the Giovanni to get away. So, it seems we both have a big fuckin' problem, don't we?” He removed his boots from the desk, allowing them to hit the floor with a thud and sat up. “So, unless you want your city to be overrun with Giovanni and Setites, I suggest you continue to allow me and my kamut to work without getting in my way.”   
  
Aster had no idea what was going on, they were using words that she had no idea what they meant. And she was also growing a bit impatient- they could have their dick measuring contest some other time when Aster's haven wasn't blown open and exposed to the public. Hoping that she wasn't making a terrible mistake, Aster cleared her throat loudly and all eyes in the room seemed to snap to her. “Uhh… I apologize, Your Excellency, but I fail to see what it is my companion and I are doing here… And my shop-” she stopped talking as soon as she saw Czar raise his hand. He frowned at her, clearly still angry, and he said “Be silent. You two come in here after working with the Black Hand and wonder why I want you here?”   
  
“...The Black Hand? I'm sorry, I do not understand.” Aster said, confused. She looked at Blue, who also shrugged. Were these four Black Hand members? She knew of the Hand, of course. She was versed in the Code of Milan but had never actually seen any Black Hand members herself. She had heard stories of how they operated and what they did but it was all just rumors and gossip- no one really knew except for those in the Hand. The Czar eyed her for a moment and then said, “Were you not assisting these Black Hand members?” He asked and Aster shook her head no.  
  
“So then, why were you out there and fighting with them?” He asked, raising a brow at Aster. Aster sighed loudly, “I wasn't, I was just shooting at whatever assholes were outside my shop and turning it into swiss cheese. I just shot at whoever shot me first- I honestly had no idea any of these fucks were Black Hand.” Aster said, gesturing to the Black Hand agents in the room. “And, honestly, even if I had been assisting the Black Hand… does it not state in the Code of Milan that 'all must aid the Black Hand', Your Excellency?” Oh, she was pushing it now. Aster almost wished she hadn't said that, but couldn't help but run her mouth. She was always getting herself into more trouble than necessary by running her mouth too much.   
  
The Czar looked angry, clearly he didn't like her response. But just as quickly as the anger came, it faded and he smiled at her. “Yes, of course, as stated in the Code of Milan… You are quick-witted, fleshcrafter. Very well. In that case, you two may leave. You have no more business here.”  With a nod, Aster turned to Blue and looked at him and the two of them headed for the door. As Aster stepped into the elevator, she looked back into the room one last time and saw the man sitting in the Czar's desk staring directly at her as if studying her. She glared back in response, still pissed at him about her shop windows _You'll be paying me back for the damage to my shop, asshole._ and the elevator doors closed, sending both Aster and Blue downstairs.   
  
When they got off the elevator, Aster nearly ran into someone standing right outside the doors. She looked up to see the Archbishop standing there and quickly moved to the side, “Oh, uh, Your Excellency, please forgive me.” Aster said, looking at Carolina. Carolina stared at her for a moment, then gave a small smile, waving Aster off and then wordlessly got into the elevator and the doors shut. Aster looked at Blue, “What do you think that was about?” she asked. Blue shrugged, staring at the closed elevator doors, “Maybe someone's in major trouble- who knows. Let's just get the hell out of here before we run into someone else or get into more trouble.” Aster muttered an agreement they both went out the front of the building.   
  
Once outside, Blue sighed and said, “They drove us here, didn't they?”   
  
“Yep.” Aster replied.  
  
“And we have no way of getting back, do we?”  
  
“Nope.”   
  
“We gonna call an Uber?”   
  
“Guess so,” Aster replied, shrugging. She pulled out her phone to call for an Uber and saw a ton of missed calls, voicemails and text messages from Needles. She rolled her eyes and said, “Give me a minute, Needles left me a million messages” and she called him.   
  
It only took a second before Needles picked up, practically screaming into the phone, “Aster! Oh thank God, you're alive! I thought someone came in and killed you and took your body and I was freaking out and oh my god, the shop is full of glass and-” “Needles. I need you to calm down.” Aster interjected, knowing that if she let him carry on, he'd work himself into a panic. “I'm fine.” She continued, “It was a group of vampires that did all that damage and I was just… dealing with the aftermath. I'm not dead, well... not in that sense, and I'm coming back to the shop now. Just… board up what you can, I think there's some spare wood from when they remodeled my room in the basement. And call a window repair man- if they can only come in the day, fine. You take care of it then and make sure to keep a copy of the bill, someone is paying for this and it's not me.” She heard Needles breathing deeply as she spoke and he let out a huge exhale as she finished talking, “Okay, Aster, I got it. I'll see you soon, then.” and Aster hung up, rolling her eyes. Ghouls. It's not his fault he's so attached, the blood bond just does that. But it still annoyed her when he fussed like that.   
  
Aster then called up an Uber and it arrived surprisingly fast- a van this time. Blue slid the back door open and they both climbed in, Aster sliding all the way across, leaving a seat open between them. The driver waited until they shut the door and smiled at them from the rear-view mirror. “Hey there guys.” He said, his tone cheerful. “Out pretty late, huh? On some type of date or something?”   
  
Both Aster and Blue looked at each other and laughed, “No, no, nothing like that- we're just friends.” Blue said, “She's not my type.” _I wouldn't go out with you anyway, jerk. Besides, I already have someone_ Aster thought to herself, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms. She let her mind drift to thoughts of her sire, Antonie. She wondered where he was now- it'd been so long since she last saw him. She worried that he was captured by the Camarilla or in torpor or even dead. She needed to know, though. He was the only man she ever loved, and the only one who had loved her. Yes, he loved her more physically than emotionally when they were together but she knew deep down that he must care about her, why would he have gifted her with unlife otherwise?   
  
As she thought, she heard Blue and the driver talking to each other- or rather, the driver talking at Blue while he made sounds of agreement or disagreement. She noticed that Blue was staring at the driver pretty intensely and she wondered why. Then Blue looked at her with an expression she couldn't read and he nodded his head toward the driver. Had he said something? She wasn't paying attention. She stared at the driver herself but didn't notice anything out of place… except for the fact that they'd been driving for a really long time and were now in a part of the city she didn't recognize. What the hell?   
  
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, drawing her attention. Aster fished the phone out and looked down at it, a text message from Blue. What? Why was he texting her when they were right next to each other? She opened the message and read something that made her blood run cold.. well, colder than normal. 

  
-This guy is a werewolf

  
She looked from the message to Blue who nodded and pointed to a scar on his face. Ah, so that's where he got that from. Aster had been fortunate enough to never encounter a lupine in her life… until now. She quickly texted back to him:

  
  
-What the fuck do we do, then?   
  
-Hope he doesn't plan to eat us and get out as soon as possible I guess  
  
-Did you notice that we're no where near downtown?  
  
-Yep so that's probably going to be a problem

  
  
“What are you two texting about back there?” The driver said suddenly, making Aster look up at him. She felt fear fill her, what would they do if he suddenly attacked them? Aster then thought of an idea and she hoped it would work. “Well, our friends just started to text us and they wanted us to meet them at this club so if you just wanna stop here, we'll get out and walk the rest of the way- it's no problem.”   
  
She waited as he stared at her from the mirror and saw a smile flash across his face, “Do you even know where we are, leech?” _Shit._ “This is Deerborne, a city nearby Detroit. And this alley we're in is pretty secluded, no one will come down here. It's time for you two to die, leeches!” and he started to change. Aster watched in horror as his form shifted, turning from human to something that made every hair on her body stand on end- every fiber of her being was screaming at her- _RUN. RUN NOW._ She decided to listen to her instincts, opting for the get-the-fuck-out option and moved for the door.   
  
Too bad for Aster, she chose the seat on the far side of the van, away from the door, and Blue was directly in the way in front of the door. He was moving to grab something from inside his coat but Aster didn't care- it was time to go. He made a move towards the lupine but… Aster was directly in the way and he crashed into her. She hit the ground with a thud, the wind knocked out of her by Blue, and she looked up just in time to see the lupine, now in a full wolf-man like form (and so tall that he had ripped the roof right off the damn van), slash at Blue. She felt a shower of blood land on her and she pushed herself up, readying herself for the fight. She untied the shotgun from her back and got into position, ready to shoot the hell out of the werewolf. The lupine looked at her and a chuckle escaped him, like he found her attempts to be funny. She probably would think it was funny too, if she was in his position. He could easily kill her and here she was, stuck in a small space trying to use a shotgun to defend herself.  
  
The lupine took another swing, this time in Aster's direction and she dodged back, feeling the wind from the speed of his claws hit her. _This is bad. This is really, really bad. We're so dead._ Aster thought, dodging another claw. She aimed the shotgun carefully and shot- but she had missed her target- his head. Instead she hit him in the arm and he roared in anger. She noticed Blue was moving around to the werewolf's side and he swiftly made a motion toward him, stabbing the werewolf right in the back. The howl of pain was louder than anything Aster was prepared for, but she didn't want to lose her chance to do some damage. She aimed the gun again and shot, hitting the wolf right in the chest. From behind the werewolf, he was repeatedly being stabbed by Blue- each stab seeming to cause him a great deal of pain.   
  
The lupine reared back, taking one last swing at Aster and she tried to dodge back but realized that she wasn't fast enough- pain filling her chest as she watched him tear out a rib. She doubled over, the pain overwhelming her. It hurt even worse than that fucking chainsaw. But she didn't have time to focus on her pain as she heard the werewolf howl again and a loud thud followed the sound. She looked up to see Blue standing over the werewolf… well, he was back in his human form, lying still on the floor of the van. Blue was covered in blood and had a crazed look in his eye as he wiped the blade he was using on the seat next to him, getting some of the blood off. He then looked at Aster and she could see his throat had been torn out. She got up, holding her chest, hoping to keep as many of her organs as possible inside of her.   
  
“So...” She said slowly, looking at Blue, “Can you talk?” He shook his head and pulled out his phone, then began to furiously type away on his phone. Aster's phone then buzzed and she looked at it.   
  


-We don't have time, sun will be up in 20 minutes.  
  


_Fuck._ Aster opened her map app on her phone and looked- she had no idea where they where. It looked like most of this area was abandoned in some way or another. She quickly motioned for Blue to follow her and they got out of the van, running down the street and looking as quickly as they could for a place to rest. Thankfully, luck seemed to be on their side as they found an abandoned YMCA. They quickly dashed in, knowing that if they couldn't find a secure place here, they were as good as dead. In one of the rooms, they found an old sauna with no windows. They quickly grabbed any blankets they could find around and ran into the sauna, slamming it shut and locking it. They placed the blankets all along the bottom of the door, hoping that would keep any potential sun out and laid down, covering themselves with the blankets. Aster felt the weight on her body that usually happened when the sun came out and she slipped into unconsciousness- praying that she'd be alive to awaken the next evening.


	5. His Name is Rex

The night fell again and Aster and Blue stirred from their rest, removing the blankets off themselves and getting up. Immediately, Aster felt ravenous hunger ripple through her body- she had spent most of the day healing the wound from the werewolf but it had taken a surprising amount of blood to do so. She hadn't thought about that before starting the healing process and now was paying the price- she needed to feed. Now.  
  
She looked over to Blue and noticed his throat was no longer ripped apart- he must have healed himself over the day too. He stared at her for a few moments before going “Aster? Are you okay? You look a little… umm...” he seemed to struggle to find the words. Aster was sure she knew what he was talking about- she probably looked a bit feral in her near-frenzy state. She shook her head and muttered, “I need to feed, right now.”  
  
They opened the sauna door and outside there were two bums, gathered around a small barrel fire that they had made. The moment Aster saw them, she pounced, grabbing one of the two men and sinking her fangs in. She began to draw as much blood as she possibly could- the man below her moaning in ecstasy. It didn't take long until he was drained of all blood and she dropped his lifeless corpse to the ground. She wiped her mouth off and looked at his friend, who said “Woah… that was freaky, lady.” Aster growled at him, he reeked of booze but she didn't want any witnesses so she grabbed him too- sinking her teeth in and draining him until she felt full. She let him go as well, though he was still alive… barely. He wouldn't make it longer than a few hours with that much blood loss.  
  
Immediately, Aster knew something was wrong. She licked her lips and the blood tasted so sweet, unnaturally sweet. She had made a terrible mistake- not the alcohol. She could handle being a bit drunk- she was used to it since bars were an easy target for feeding. No, this man was a diabetic and she knew drinking diabetic blood was something she should never do. The alcohol hit her, causing her to stumble slightly. _Shit, this is bad. I need to get this blood out of me…_ she thought, struggling to stay on her feet. How much fucking booze did this bum have in his system? Or were they both wasted before she fed on them?  
  
Aster reached out, trying to grab for something to steady herself and felt Blue grab her back. He held her up and asked, “What happened, are you okay?”  
  
“No, bad blood. Diabetic.” Aster choked out, using Blue to stay standing. “Need to get home. Call an Uber.”  
  
Blue nodded, pulling out his phone, “I think we'll be taking a Lyft instead.” He said dryly as he made the call.  
  
The Lyft arrived after 20 minutes and Blue helped Aster inside. She was feeling even worse, her whole body was feeling weak. The last time she had felt anything like this was when she was still alive, around 16 years old and she had gotten the flu. She had been in bed for weeks with her mother crying by her bedside, thinking that she was going to die from the illness. Of course, Aster had pulled through but it was the worst she had ever felt in her life. Now, she was feeling very similar.  
  
As they sat in the backseat, Aster leaning her head on Blue's shoulder for support, the driver looked into the mirror and Aster saw through her blurring vision that he looked shocked. He partially turned around and asked, “Is she okay? She's bleeding.”  
  
_What?_ Aster was confused and Blue looked at her and gasped, pointing to her head. She reached up and touched her forehead and examined her hand- it was covered in blood. She was sweating blood. She was dizzy, the world swayed around her and her vision began to fade in and out. She closed her eyes, hoping that they'd be at the shop soon. She heard Blue responding to the driver but couldn't make out the words, her head pounding as she started to drift off.  
  
Suddenly, she was being moved. Someone picked her up and was carrying her, and she assumed it was Blue. She heard voices, Blue and Needles talking. Needles was speaking rapidly, and she felt them going up the stairs before she was placed into a bed- her bed, she assumed. She felt disgusting, blood was now openingly sweating from her and making her sticky. She was losing blood at a rapid rate and soon she'd be in trouble- no blood meant her beast would take over.  
  
She could hear Blue and Needles talking more and then someone left the room. She opened one of her eyes to see Needles leaning over her, he had something in his hand- a washcloth? He was dabbing it across her head, wiping away as much blood as he could. When he noticed she was looking at him, he went “Don't worry, Aster. Blue just left to get you… someone. He'll be back soon. Just hang on, okay?” Aster sighed, closing her eyes again, listening to Needles repeatedly wipe blood away from her, gather trash bags (probably for her sheets, she assumed, they're probably caked in blood), and shuffle around the room.  
  
It didn't take too long before Aster heard footsteps coming up her stairs, and just in time. She was starving and near frenzy again. She had stopped sweating, there was really nothing left to sweat out. She heard Blue saying something to the effect of, “Uh, yeah, my room is up here. It's pretty interesting, you know?” and a woman respond, “Oh I see, how neat!”  
  
The door to the room opened and Aster opened her eyes to see a woman step inside, followed by Blue who quickly shut the door and stood against it. Needles had backed away into a corner of Aster's room and the woman looked around, clearly confused. “What is this? Who's this woman? I didn't agree to any three-ways or anything.” She stared at Aster and then paled, “Wait, is that… is that blood?! Oh my god, is she dying? Somebody HEL-” **bam** Blue had hit her as she began to yell, knocking her onto the ground. Aster pushed herself up and she felt the loss of control hit her, she was in another frenzy at the sight of the blood coming from the woman's mouth from the blow to the head.  
  
Aster pounced, a vicious growl escaping her as she bit into the woman, draining her with abandon. Once the woman had no blood left, Aster kicked her to the side and tried to calm herself. Needles whimpered in the corner and Aster snapped at him, “Shut up!” and he froze, completely terrified. She took in a deep breath, she felt the frenzy slipping away as the blood filled her and sat down on the bed. Blue crossed his arms and sighed, “Feeling better?” he asked.  
  
“Yeah… Damn, I can't believe I fucked up like that. Drinking diabetic blood… I knew there was something off but I just thought it was all the alcohol in his system.” Aster said, taking off her boots and socks. “I really need a fucking shower… and new sheets.”  
  
From the corner, she heard another whimper and she looked at Needles, “What are you making those noises for?” Aster asked him, frowning. Needles, shaking slightly, edged over to the door while staring at Aster, “I-I-I've never s-s-seen you f-feed like that before… I-I… I need to go. I-I'll clean a-all of this u-up later...” He said, quickly opening the door and rushing out.  
  
Blue watched him leave and then rolled his eyes, “Your ghoul is kind of a bitch, isn't he?” and Aster sighed, “He is, but he does his job so… I can't complain too much, I guess. Anyway, I'm going to shower and change if you want to wait downstairs.” With a nod, Blue left her room as well, closing the door behind him.  
  
Aster stood up, stripping her bloody clothes off and placing them in the middle of her sheets. She rolled all of it into a bundle and placed it into one of the trash bags Needles brought up. She'd leave the rest to him, he had apparently found a place to launder bloody clothes that didn't ask too many questions. She then looked into the mirror and saw just how bad off she really looked. She was already pale, but thankfully not too pale like most vampires, she could easily pass for a person who rarely went into the sun. But now, she was deathly pale and had caked blood all over her face. She turned on her shower, and stepped inside, watching as the blood mixed with the water and flowed down the drain. She'd have to be more careful with feeding, she thought. Last thing she ever wanted was to experience that again- she felt so weak and helpless and thank Caine that Blue had been there to help her.  
  
With her shower finished, Aster dried off and grabbed some clean clothes and dressed- heading downstairs to meet up with Blue. The night was still young and they spent the rest of it chatting while Aster did some work on clients, the shop windows had been mostly repaired and any that hadn't were properly boarded up- and it had cost a pretty penny as well. Aster had a wait list now for tattoos- people weren't too happy that they couldn't come in and see her when she hadn't been there. Blue left for a bit at some point during the night to feed for himself and when he returned, it was getting close to morning so they bid each other good day and went their separate ways.  
  
When Aster returned to her room, the sheets had been replaced with clean ones and the bag of bloody sheets and clothes was gone. Aster couldn't help but give a small smile as she sat on her bed. She opened her desk drawer, digging out her cigarettes and lighting one up. Then she pulled something else out of her desk drawer- a journal. She opened it and it was filled with writing (all in German) and sketches. She flipped to a new page and dated it, drawing a sketch of the werewolf she saw and writing a small blurb about what she had witnessed. On the adjacent page, she drew another sketch- the man with the white hair and she wrote down next to it:  
  
“This is so I don't forget his face- hah, I never forget a face but just to be safe. He'll be paying me for those damages, I don't care who the fuck he thinks he is- Black Hand or otherwise. No one damages my haven.”  
  
She then put her pencil back in with her journal- it was a thick journal. She had started writing in it back in the 1800s, but she only placed information of significant importance to her in it to keep it from becoming too large. After finishing off her cigarette, she laid down and let herself fall into a resting state.  
  
A few days came and went without too much trouble- Aster and Blue mostly stayed in, hanging out at the shop. On this night, they had gone to a bar to feed, Aster getting a chance to see Blue's poor attempts at seduction first hand. She laughed as the woman he was talking to got weirded out by him and walked away. “Nice one” she chuckled as he came back and sat down next to her. He shook his head and sighed, “I guess I just don't understand human women- I thought it was going well.” Aster laughed and patted him on the back, “Next one, I'm sure.”  
  
They sat and chatted for a bit, watching the people in the bar. Aster had managed to seduce some poor stupid guy and brought him into the bathroom- he thought he was going to get something sucked, but he probably didn't think it would be all his blood from his neck. Aster carefully left the body in the stall, slipping out from under the stall door so it'd remain locked as she exited the bathroom. She lost track of Blue but quickly found him and it seemed he, too, had finally found a meal. They went to leave when Aster's phone went off. It was a text from an unknown number. She quickly searched her mind, trying to see if she knew the number at some point and just didn't put it into this phone but no, she had no idea who it was. She opened the message and read:

  
  
-Hey, meet me at this location in 30 minutes.

  
  
Attached was a map of downtown with a diner highlighted. Aster knew the place but she had no idea who was texting her. She responded back,

  
  
_-Who the hell is this? I'm not just meeting some random asshole._  
  
-This would be worth your time, trust me.

  
  
Aster frowned at the response but couldn't help but feel extremely curious. What if it was one of the Bishops testing her or something? Or what if it was an ambush? She looked at Blue and showed him the messages, “What do you think?” she asked.  
  
Blue shrugged in response, reading over the messages again as he said, “I guess it couldn't hurt- if we get in there and it's some type of trap or something, well… we'd be in a diner, how bad could it be? Someone would at least call the cops.” Aster nodded in agreement.  
  
“Alright, fine. Let's go meet whoever this is and see what they want.” She said, getting up.  
  
They left the bar, riding on Blue's bike over to the diner. Aster looked around, noticing nothing strange- except for a huge muscle car that looked a bit out of place. She stared at it for a moment before Blue said “Come on, let's go.” and they headed in.  
  
A hostess met them at the door, grabbing two menus as they walked up. She smiled at them, “Table for two?” she asked and Aster shook her head, “We're here to meet someone.” she said, looking past the hostess into the diner.  
  
At first, she didn't see anyone familiar. It just looked like families, drunk assholes and random teens eating food and chatting. But then her eyes fell onto a table in the corner- all the seats around the table seemed to be strangely unoccupied, considering how busy the diner was. And sitting at the table, cigarette in his mouth, was the man with white hair. Aster tapped Blue's arm and pointing him out. She pushed past the hostess, who made a noise of protest, and walked over to his table.  
  
As soon as she approached, she put her hands down on the table and leaned down, “You. What do _you_ want?” she asked, not attempting to mask her irritation. He gave her a shit-eating grin, making a motion to the booth seats as he said, “Have a seat.”  
  
Aster wasn't in the mood for this- this man almost jeopardized her source of income, which even vampires need to survive. Blue sat down but she stood, crossing her arms over her chest. “I have no intention of doing such a thing, nor do I want to waste my time talking to you. You ruined my shop and cost me a ton of money fixing it. As far as I'm concerned, you can fuck off.” She watched his face for his reaction and to her surprise, his smile didn't falter- he just stared back at her.  
  
Then, he took a drag of his cigarette, leaning back in the booth and putting his arms across the tops of the seats next to him. He then spoke, his tone calm, “Listen, you're the one who said 'All shall aid the Black Hand' back there in the Bishop's office, aren't you? Unless for some reason, the rule suddenly doesn't apply to you since you seem to have some type of problem with me, which I could give zero fucks if you do. But I need help.” He once again motioned for her to sit and, with a bit more of a commanding tone, said “Now, sit.”  
  
Aster cursed herself, he was technically right. She did say that and always did her best to follow the Code of Milan. She sat down, begrudgingly, and pulled out her own pack of cigarettes, lighting one up and staring at him, “So. What do you want?”  
  
He looked around for a moment, as if looking for someone and then leaned forward, dropping his tone of voice, “Alright, first things first. My name is Rex. As you probably now, I'm in the Black Hand. Well, someone is after me and I need help getting them off my back.”  
  
“Don't you have a pack to help you with this shit?” Aster asked, rolling her eyes and Rex shook his head, “Not for this one. This asshole showed up after I sent them off on another mission and they won't be back in time. But listen, it's not safe to talk in here. Meet me out back in the alley, we can talk more freely there.” He glanced around again. Aster and Blue both looked out toward the diner to see if they saw anything or anyone suspicious as well and when they turned back, Rex was gone. Aster shook her head and sighed, getting up- “This is why I stopped integrating myself in with the cities I lived in because of shit like this.” and Blue nodded in agreement as they walked out of the diner and towards the back alley.  
  
Standing in the back alley was Rex, he had a new cigarette in his mouth and he was staring up towards the roof of the diner. Aster looked up and saw nothing there, wondering what the hell Rex's problem was- was this guy just paranoid or something? He waved the two of them over and said, “Alright, now that we're out here, we can talk.” He paced around for a moment and then spoke again, “This guy, he's been following me for a few days now- nothing too serious yet but I can take a guess at what he wants. It doesn't matter, but I have a feeling he's going to try tonight to grab me and all I need you two to do is distract him. That's it. You don't have to kill him or anything, just keep him busy and I'll handle the rest.”  
  
Aster didn't like how vague he was being- but she nodded anyway, “Fine, we can do that as long as it doesn't get us hurt.” and Rex shook his head, “Nah, he won't be interested in two nobodies- that's why I called you for help.”  
  
“Nobodies?!” Aster growled, “What the fuck does that mean?”  
  
Rex turned to answer and froze, looking down. Aster noticed it too, a huge shadow was expanding out from under him and then it enveloped him as he called out, “Shit!” and then… he was gone. Just like that. The shadow and him vanished.  
  
“Excuse me.” A voice from behind Blue and Aster said, making both of them jump. Aster turned and saw a man standing there- a gentleman from the looks of it. He was well-dressed, right down to a monocle. He was smiling at them and he bowed to them both. “I apologize for my rudeness.” He extended a hand out to them, “My name is Alvin- I'm an Inquisitor.”  
  
Aster, surprised, took his hand and shook it, “An Inquisitor?” She looked to the spot where Rex had been standing before he vanished and then looked back to Alvin, “does that mean…?”  
  
With a nod, Alvin gave a sad smile, “Yes, I'm afraid that everything he told you was a lie- with the exception of him being Black Hand, of course. No one was after him except for the Inquisition. He has… made some rather poor choices as of late, I'm afraid. And now he's dragging innocent Cainites such as yourselves into his mess. For that, I apologize on his behalf.” He then turned, walking to the spot where Rex was standing and bent over, putting his hand into a shadow on the ground and returning with some items. He handed them to Aster and she took them- a wallet, keys, a lighter and some cigarettes. Alvin then smiled at her, “These are his things- not useful to me but perhaps they can be of use to you.” Aster looked them over for a moment and then pocketed them.  
  
Alvin then took out a small notebook and said, “May I have your names and contact information, just in case I need to further contact you for information?” Aster and Blue both nodded and provided their information, which Alvin noted and then placed the notebook back into his pocket. He then said, “Well, in that case, I believe our business to be concluded. Thank you both for your cooperation and we'll be in touch.” And with that, he bowed and walked out of the alley- leaving Aster and Blue standing there, confused.  
  
“Well.” Aster said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them, “That was interesting.”  
  
“No kidding, I had no idea he was wanted by the Inquisition. Wonder what he did?” Blue asked, looking back again to the spot where Rex had been standing.  
  
“Who cares? He got what was coming to him- if the Inquisition was after him, he fucked up somehow. Not our problem.” She really didn't care, she didn't want to be dragged into his problems anyway. She grabbed his keys back out of her pocket and smiled, “Besides, I got a new ride out of all this. Let's go see what car goes with these keys.” She started to make her way to the parking lot and Blue followed. Aster walked around, noting that the keys didn't have an automatic lock on them so she was looking for something older. She paused next to the muscle car that had caught her attention when they pulled up and hmm'd- it couldn't be this one, could it?  
  
Bingo. It sure was. She got in and noted a smell of cigarettes clung to the inside of the car. She put the key in the ignition and smiled, she could get used to owning a car. But, there was a problem. It was manual and she barely knew how to drive manual. She rolled down the window and called to Blue, “Hey I'll meet you at the shop, this… might take me a minute to figure out.” Blue simply shrugged at her and got on his bike, taking off.  
  
Aster looked down at the shift and sighed, she'd driven manual once. About 20 years ago. While drunk. Shit. _Nah, you're smart, you got this. Just… something with the clutch? Fuck. Lemme look up a video_. She pulled out her phone and watched a Youtube video for help. She watched it a second time to be sure and then attempted to drive.  
  
It went… okay. She flooded the car once at a light and heard some horrible grinding noise at some other point but all in all, she managed to get from point A to point B and that was a win in her book. She  parked next to the shop in the small parking lot between her building and the building next door and got out, making sure to lock the door. She walked into the shop and smiled, happy with her new vehicle and that they managed to dodge dealing with new problems. As usual, Aster and Blue chatted until near-morning and Blue left back to his haven. Yes, it was a strange night but at least everything went well and Aster now had a new car- it made up for the fact that Rex was not going to pay for her windows where he was going. Not if the Inquisition had him. No, he'd be lucky to walk out alive and if he did, walk away sane enough to even remember anything. A car was fair enough payment in her book and she happily went to rest in her bed.


	6. False Memories

The next evening, Aster woke up feeling refreshed. She took a shower and got ready for another night in her shop. She sat on her bed, getting dressed and smoking a cigarette as she heard her phone go off- a text message. She looked at it and again, it was from an unknown number. _What the fuck is this? Did someone like post my number on a bulletin board somewhere?_ Aster thought, reading the message:

  
  
-Aster, I need you to meet me at the old Motel 6 downtown. Room 201. It's important. And don't bring your friend.

  
  
Another mysterious invite to another weird location? What the hell was up with this city? And alone too? This stunk to high heaven of a trap. Or maybe it was the Inquisitor? Aster sat and thought for a moment before she decided to go- what was the worst that could happen? She would take her shotgun and at least tell Needles before she left- that way if she happened to disappear, he could raise the alarm to Blue. She headed down the stairs and told Needles where she was going on her way out and drove her new car, making new horrible noises with it on the way, over to the hotel.  
  
When she arrived, she headed straight for the room and knocked on the door. The door opened but there was no one there. Curious, Aster stepped into the dark hotel room- none of the lights were on. As soon as she walked past the threshold of the doorway, the door closed behind her and she jumped. As she was about to retreat out of the room, she heard movement behind her and she turned, coming face to… sword with a sword.  
  
At the end of the sword was Silver, and Aster stared at her for a moment before going, “Silver- what the fuck?” Silver said nothing, making a shushing noise and motioning for Aster to sit down on the bed and Aster complied- not wishing to have her head removed from her shoulders. Aster sat in silence, watching Silver make a motion and all the lights in the room turned on. Against the door was the Nosferatu that Aster had seen at the Bishop's place and against the window was the other man. Silver then spoke to them, “Before we do anything, we have to be sure she's not compromised.” and the two nodded. Silver then lowered her sword and knelt in front of Aster and stared directly at her.  
  
Aster watched in amazement as a third eye formed on Silver's forehead and she was taken aback- she'd never seen anything like it before. Panic then immediately washed over her- what was Silver going to do to her with that thing? Aster began to move away and Silver grabbed her arm and said, “Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to check something.” Aster felt uncomfortable, like Silver was staring into her mind. Aster then felt something strange- as if someone was fishing around in her head for information. She hated it and she wanted to fight back, but she felt like she couldn't. Her memories were being probed- she could see it now. Something had been changed, she couldn't tell what, it was fuzzy. But almost there, she could almost see it and… “UGH.” Aster couldn't help but yell out as searing pain went through her head.  
  
Silver recoiled as well, holding a hand over her third eye. “Damn it, they did a really good job. But she at least hasn't been programmed or anything, I can tell that much. But they changed her memories.” She said to her companions. She then turned to Aster and said, “Listen, I'm sorry for that but I needed to make sure that they hadn't dominated you and made it so you'd attack us as soon as you saw us or from hearing a trigger word.”  
  
“Who?” Aster asked, confused as hell. Had she been dominated? Who would have done that? Silver watched her expression and then said, “I'll explain. Yesterday, Rex said he was going to meet with you and your friend- that he thought you two would be good to use since you don't have any connections to anyone in the city so they probably wouldn't take action against you two. We knew the Tremere was tracking him, trying to get to him. He recently did a good job of pissing them off. Of course, the hope was that they wouldn't be bold enough to just grab him right in front of you two but… guess that was wishful thinking. No, not only did they get him but they changed your memories to cover it up. Well, unlucky for them, I can find out what really happened. But I need to poke around in your memories to fix what they changed, and for that I need you to not fight me. Can you do that?”  
  
So much for not getting caught up in his shit. God damn it. “I guess.” Aster replied, “What do you need me to do?”  
  
Silver looked relieved and said, “Just close your eyes. When you feel anything strange, don't fight it. Just let me take control of your memories so I can piece them back together.”  
  
Aster did as she was told and closed her eyes and she felt the weird feeling again. It still wasn't comfortable and she wanted nothing more for it to end quickly but she tried to relax. She saw flashes of her past, nothing too far back but some stuff from the last year. Leaving her old city. Moving to Detroit. Meeting Needles. Setting up her shop. Putting her stuff away in her new room. And then the memories went by faster- The Sabbat meeting, the Bat Race, the werewolf attack and then… last night.  
  
The memory started off almost the same. Up until they moved into the alley. There were no shadows- instead it looked like something invisible had bound Rex's hands and he stood there, a grin on his face. From behind Aster and Blue stepped someone and they turned to look at him. It was Alvin and he met their gaze and said, “Stay.” and the two of them froze. Alvin then walked over to Rex and smiled at him, “Ahhh. Who knew it'd be this easy to catch you? Standing in an alley with your guard down.” He pulled out a stake and stabbed it into Rex's chest and Rex froze.  
  
Whatever invisible chains were holding Rex seemed to have vanished and he hit the ground with a soft thud, and Alvin snapped his fingers. A few men stepped out from around the corner and walked over to where Rex was staked and picked him up. One of the men turned to Alvin and went, “Holy shit, boss, you got him.”  
  
“Of course I did,” Alvin snapped back, “It was easy. Now… I just need to decide what to do with these two.” He looked over Aster and Blue and sighed, “It'll be a problem if we just dust them- someone will start asking questions. I suppose I'll just have to… change their memories up a bit.”  
  
“How are you gonna change them?” The guy asked and Alvin smiled, “I'll make them think I'm one of those Sabbat Inquisitors- all these Sabbat trash seem to be scared of them and respect them. Hah, as if the Sabbat even understand what respect is- they're all animals.” He stood in front of Blue and stared into his eyes, whispering a ton of stuff to him that Aster couldn't hear before moving in front of Aster and doing the same thing. He was telling her what she saw, what was said, who he was, where Rex went, everything. She nodded complicity and said, “I understand.”  
  
Alvin then turned to his companion and said, “Let's go before these two come to. We've set up at a warehouse downtown for now- get this piece of trash there. We'll have a nice bonfire.” And he and his companion walked out of the alley, the other men carrying Rex right behind them.  
  
The memory complete, Aster opened her eyes and stared at Silver. “Holy shit. How **dare** that piece of shit change my memory!”  
  
A knock on the door drew all their attention to the door. Silver motioned for Aster to move into the bathroom, which she did and Silver backed into a shadow, becoming nearly invisible. The man near the door flipped off the light and then slowly opened the door.  
  
Once the door was opened, Blue stepped inside. “Aster?” He asked, scanning the pitch black room. Before Aster could react, Silver pulled the same move on him that she had on Aster- moving Blue to the bed and forcing him to sit. The lights went back on and Silver sighed, “Looks like I'll have to do this again.” She said and once again, her third eye opened. She was staring intensely at Blue and his eyes almost rolled back- it was weird to see.  
  
It took almost 10 minutes for Silver to clear Blue of being dominated- almost the whole time, Aster just sat on the bed next to them, smoking a cigarette. Once it was complete, Aster then said, “Alright, now that we know what's going on, let's get these fuckers.” She jumped up, placing her shotgun back on her back. She really, really needed to get new weapons but she had a fondness for this shotgun. It didn't matter anyways, this gun would do just fine- she just needed one good shot after all. Having her memories tampered with really rubbed her the wrong way.  
  
Silver then said, “Well I have an idea. Since that one asshole decided to make you think he was an Inquisitor, let's use that. You two will go down to the warehouse they're in, play it up like you were sent by the Bishop or something to check out what was going on, grab Rex and get the hell out.”  
  
“Just like that?” Aster said skeptically, “And I don't want to just get the hell out, I want them to pay for what they did to me and Blue.”  
  
“You do not want to fuck with the Tremere, Aster. Leave that to the professionals. They'd kill you before you even knew what was happening.” Silver replied, her expression darkening so much that it made Aster feel uncomfortable. She decided it wasn't worth it to keep pushing on the subject. “Fine then, are you three coming with us?”  
  
Silver shook her head, “No, if they spotted us somehow, it'd jeopardize everything. It's best that you two just go- I'm sure you can handle it. After all, you beat my old pack in a Bat Race, didn't you?”    
  
Old pack? Aster was curious as to what happened if she was no longer in the Hell's Rejects but she figured now wasn't the time. She glanced at the clock- 1 AM. There wasn't much time to get this done so they had better get going. “Alright well if that's everything, we'd better get going now- we don't have a lot of time.” Blue nodded and got up as well, “I'll take my bike and meet you there, Aster.” He said and walked out of the door.  
  
Aster headed for the door as well and felt Silver grab her arm, she turned back to look at her and Silver muttered, “Bring him back, Aster. Don't let the Tremere take him away.” and with that, she let go and Aster nodded, opening the door of the room and walking out.  
  
Unfortunately, there were many abandoned warehouses in downtown Detroit- so it took longer than Aster would have liked to find the right one. However, as she drove, she spotted a warehouse with lights on inside and figured that was the place. She parked nearby and saw that Blue's bike was already there but she didn't see Blue- maybe he went inside without her? As she got out of the car, she heard someone round the corner up ahead and Blue was there. “Hey, I took a look to see how many guys there were. There's the one guy, 'Alvin' if that's his real name, and three others. Nothing too bad.”  
  
“Alright, then let's get a move on- did you find the door?”  
  
“Sure did, it's right over here.” Blue said, leading Aster to the door.  
  
Once they reached the door, Aster opened it and immediately heard the sounds of guns cocking. The three men in the room had their guns trained on Aster and Blue instantly and both of them threw their hands up. “Woah!” Aster said, “What's with this welcome? We were sent by the Bishop to see what was going on here.”  
  
“Now, now, is that any way to welcome guests?” A familiar voice called over the room, and Aster saw Alvin appear from behind a stack of boxes. He walked over to Aster and Blue with a smile on his face and said, “My new friends, how are you? We had an operation set up here that we've been working on and your sudden appearance just startled my boys here. How can I assist?” He had a smile on his face that Aster could tell wasn't sincere. He was annoyed that they were there. Good.  
  
“Ah, Inquisitor- so it's your group that is here. We were sent by the Bishop himself, you see. He was confused as to who was operating in his territory without the curiosity to stop and introduce themselves first. But if it's you, I'll happily go and inform him that it's the Inquisition operating in the area- I'm sure he'll be happy to know there's an Inquisitor in town.” Aster replied, a cheeky grin on her face.  
  
At this, Alvin stared directly at them and said, “That won't be necessary- this is a secret operation, best to keep your.. Bishop… uninvolved.”  
  
“No can do, Inquisitor. The Bishop will just come down himself if we don't report back the identity of the person who's here. I'm sure you understand how it works.” Aster said, looking at Blue, who nodded in agreement.  
  
Alvin looked pissed and he sighed, “This would have been so much easier if you just left- for all of us.” He looked them both in the eyes and said, “Now, we have to do this my way. Walk.”  
  
Aster felt herself walking against her will, following Alvin as he rounded the stack of boxes. At the far end of the room, there was a stack of broken wood that the other three men were piling more wood on and spraying it down with something- gas from the smell of it. On the ground in front of the wood pile lay the Rex, a stake still in him. “Stop.” Alvin said and Aster felt herself stop. “Good… now, unarm yourself.” Aster removed her shotgun and pocket knife and placed them on the ground. “Excellent, now- be silent, still and kneel.” Alvin commanded with a smile, watching as Aster and Blue got to their knees.  
  
He circled around in front of them and looked down at them, “See- this is what happens when you're in a position of power. In a few moments here, your friend will be burned alive as punishment for his recent crimes against the Tremere.” Alvin then turned and pointed at the wood pile and it magically ignited with a loud _whoosh!_. He then turned back to Aster and Blue, “And you two… well, I could simply re-write your memories again and by the time you remember, we'll be long gone. Or, I could simply chuck you both into the fire as well.”  
  
“You first, buddy.” A familiar voice said from behind Alvin. Aster looked to see Rex standing there, a cocky grin plastered on his face as he removed the stake from his chest. He then moved quickly and grabbed Alvin around the waist and lifted him off the ground- walking over to the fire. “Let go of me this instant!” Alvin screamed and Rex shook his head as he walked, “Don't think so. We're both going in, that way I can make sure you stay until you're nothing but ash.”  
“Are you insane? You'll get us both killed!” Alvin screamed as they got closer to the fire. Rex laughed loudly but gave no further response as he laughed all the way to the fire and leapt in.  
  
Screams filled the room, coming from Alvin. The sound seemed to knock Aster and Blue out of whatever control they were under and Aster immediately stood up, “No!” she screamed, looking at the fire. “We were supposed to save him- what the fuck do we do now?” she looked at Blue who was looking elsewhere, “I think we have bigger problems, Aster.”  
  
Aster looked up and saw one of the other Tremere up on the beams of the warehouse, looking like he was casting some type of spell and the other two had shown up from around the corner, holding guns. Aster quickly scanned around, looking for cover and saw a shitty little wooden table. _Oh. That's just great._ She ran over, kicking the table onto it's side and ducked behind it. It didn't help much as bullets began to rain into the table- whatever she was being shot with, it was automatic and fired at a rapid rate. She then felt something strange- like her blood was being removed from her body. She looked up and saw the spellcaster smiling down at her and she knew he had done something to her to remove her blood.  
  
With some quick thinking, Aster pointed her gun up and fired at the spellcaster's leg- hitting it dead on and making him lose his balance on the beam, grabbing onto the side as he started to fall. She then turned and trained her gun on the guy was firing at her and _click!_ nothing happened- the gun was empty. “Fuck!” Aster said and the guy with the gun smiled at her, unloading another round of bullets her way. She tried to dodge but wasn't quick enough to get back into cover and several of the bullets passed through her shoulders, chest and one even hit her in the head. It hurt incredibly badly for a moment but she knew that she couldn't just allow the pain to slow her down- she had to get rid of this guy before his friend got back up on that beam.  
  
Aster had an idea- it was a stupid idea. She knew it was a stupid idea. But it was better than nothing. She just had to get to the guy and hope that it worked, or else she was as good as a sitting duck. She moved out from her makeshift cover and ran at the guy, knocking his gun aside as she got close and grabbing his chest. He looked down at her confused and she concentrated for a moment, using her vicissitude. Suddenly, the man started to scream- his ribs were growing inwards and around toward his heart. Aster forced his ribs to come together and crush his heart and he gave one find scream before crumbling to dust. With a smile, Aster grabbed his gun and aimed it at the spellcaster. She fired at him repeatedly, making him lose his balance once again and he fell to the ground. Aster then walked over to him and pointed the gun directly at his face, firing several times until she was sure he was dead.  
  
Once that was taken care of, she scanned the room and saw Blue standing over the last guy's body- he must have finished him off as well. She walked over to him and sighed, “Well, that was messy.” she said. “I wonder how pissed Silver is going to be that we couldn't save Rex… from himself, I guess. Who the hell jumps into a fire like that anyway? Idiot.”  
  
As if in answer to her, the fire behind them made another loud crackle and whoosh sound which drew Aster and Blue's attention. There was something moving in the fire and Aster stared at whatever it was before realizing it was a person- or what was a person. Whoever it was stepped out of the fire and they looked almost like a moving statue of obsidian with scraps of burnt clothing clinging to them. He then fell forward, landing on one knee and holding himself up with his arms. He looked to be in tremendous pain. It took a few minutes before Aster realized it was Rex. _How in the hell?_  
  
Immediately, Aster and Blue rushed over and carefully tried to help him to his feet. Aster was in shock, staring at him, unable to find any words. After several minutes, he was on his feet and his skin began to reform. He smirked at them and then said, “I hate having to do that.” He shook his head and ash fell out of his hair. “Anyway, now that they're all taken care of, I believe you have my things, Aster.” He held out his hand, looking at Aster expectantly.  
  
She stared at his hand for a moment and then to his face. Just who was this guy? He just… jumped in a fire and lived! She didn't know of any Cainites who could do that. And why did he do it? To show off? What an asshole! Her curiosity peaked, she wanted to know more about him- why he was able to do something so crazy and live. She shook herself out of her thoughts and reached into her pockets. She handed over his wallet, cigarettes and lighter. She then went to hand over his keys and then paused, wrapping her hand around them.  
  
Rex gave her a curious look, “Well?” he asked, eyeing the keys. Aster shook her head and put them back in her pocket, “I don't think so- these are mine now. Especially after getting dragged into all this shit.” She said, leaning to the side and placing a hand on her hip, the look on her face clearly stating that she wasn't joking around. “Besides, you owe me for my shop windows so, I'll take the car as payment.”  
  
Rex was silent for a moment before he shrugged, “Fine. Not like I don't have other rides. Anyway, I'm getting out of here. Thanks for the help. I have your number so if I need anything else, I'll call.” And with that, he walked out of the warehouse, Aster watching him walk away.  
  
Once he was gone, Aster turned to Blue and sighed, “That was crazy, right? I'm not the only one who thinks that, am I?” and Blue shook his head, “No, you're not. That guy is a real piece of work. But let's go, I don't want to hang around here too long- what if they have more friends?”  
  
“Yeah, let's get the fuck out of here.” And with that, the two of them left- heading to their respective havens as the sun drew near. Once Aster was home and safely in her room, she pulled out her journal and made a quick sketch- a man emerging from a fire and she wrote an entry:

  
  
_“Today I saw a vampire leap into a fire and walk out like some type of God. His name is Rex and he has peaked my interest. Perhaps I'll try to get to know more about him- find out what makes him tick.”_

  
And with that, she closed the journal, put her cigarette she was smoking into her ash tray and laid down- curious as to what the next night would bring her. 


	7. Unwilling Embrace

After all the craziness that had happened in the past few weeks, Aster was looking forward to something relaxing. The Palla Grande was coming up- one of Aster's personal favorite celebrations that the Sabbat held. It was a bit like what the mortals celebrated as Halloween only… not. It was a grand celebration with all the Cainites in the city, including a display of costumes and a grand blood-feast. Aster usually participated in the costume part, though she hadn't put a ton of effort into it in the past- usually a simple gown made through her fleshcrafting. But this year, in a new city, she felt like being impressive.  
  
Over the next few nights, she began to make plans for her dress. She hadn't seen Blue in a few nights either- she assumed he was busy with his own thing so she didn't give it much thought. She put up a few sketches of outfit designs and got to work- it would take quite a bit of flesh to do this properly.  
  
She began by stalking some nearby locations- she wanted to find people with nice hands. She would go to nearby bars and watch, waiting for just the right person. It was difficult, there weren't a lot of women who frequented the bars in the area and took care of their hands, let alone did their nails. Probably couldn't afford it. But she did manage to find two and used her charms to lure them out to the alley- not a difficult feat when you know exactly what women want to hear. She had left her bag in the alley and once they dropped their guard, she pulled out her baseball bat and knocked them both out.  
  
Once they were securely tied up in the butcher's shop (she could care less if they died this time, this was for a dress after all), she went back out to find another but had no luck. Discouraged, she headed back to the shop and found Needles there, his eyes red and full of tears, standing behind the register. Aster walked over to him and leaned on the counter, “What's with the crying?” she asked him.  
  
He looked at her and his face was full of misery, she actually felt a bit bad for him. He took in a deep, gulping breath and said “My girlfriend broke up with me. She'd been cheating on me. She said I was useless and I'd never amount to anything and I tried so hard for her- I make way more money than that piece of shit she cheated on me with.” His voice cracked and broke as he spoke and Aster felt a bit of anger flash through her- no one was allowed to hurt her ghoul like this except for her.  
  
Aster had actually met the girl, Jenny, a few times and had always disliked her- she treated Needles like a walking bank account more than a boyfriend- but Aster stayed out of it. As long as Needles did his job and his girlfriend wasn't capitalizing on his time, Aster really didn't have a say nor did she care all that much. But this was different- a crying employee at a tattoo shop looked bad for business and deep down, Aster did care for Needles.  
  
“Where is she now?” Aster asked, keeping her tone cool and even.  
  
“At a party, I think. We were supposed to go together but…” His voice broke and he broke down again. Aster rolled her eyes, “And where is this party, Needles?”  
  
He looked at her and sighed, “Uhh it's a frat house. Here I'll text you the address- but why?”  
  
“I just want to talk to her, that's all.” Aster lied- she had more in mind for her. Plus, she had very lovely skin and always shelled out a ton of money to keep her nails nice.  
  
Needles thought for a moment and then shook his head, “You know what, I don't even care. That cheating bitch gets whatever is coming to her.”  
  
“Oh don't worry- she will.” Aster said, grabbing her bag and heading to her new car.  
  
It didn't take long to get to the party and Aster parked on the street out front. She saw tons of people in and outside of the house- most of them drunk off their asses. She got out and started to head in- getting a wolf whistle from a guy smoking outside on the porch, which she responded to by flipping him off. She opened the door and headed inside but immediately was stopped by some younger kid. He wasn't wearing a shirt and had some rather obscene things drawn all over his upper body- including his face. There was a sign on him that said “Pledge” and he looked miserable. He positioned himself in front of Aster and with a low, shaking voice said, “I'm s-sorry but this is a private party. Do you have an invite?”  
  
Aster frowned at him and crossed her arms, “I'm just looking for someone here- A girl named Jenny.”  
  
“I-I'm sorry, miss, but you need an invite to get in. That's just the rules.” He replied while staring down at her shoes. He didn't seem to want to look her in the eye.  
  
As Aster was about to make an argument as to why she should be let in, a group of guys rounded the corner- red cups in hand full of alcohol. They walked over to the Pledge and the biggest one put an arm around him as he said, “Woah buddy, are you giving this hottie a hard time?”  
  
The Pledge shrunk away from the guy and muttered, “You said no one gets in without an invitation...”  
  
In response, the man slapped the Pledge on the back, perhaps a bit harder than necessary and laughed, “Unless a hot girl was trying to get in- you've broken that rule, Pledge.” His tone turned a bit cold and he pushed the Pledge into his group of friends. They smiled menacingly at the Pledge and started to take him away somewhere as the leader said, “Make sure he gets appropriate punishment for this!” He then turned back to Aster and smiled widely, “I'm so sorry about that- welcome to the party, sexy.”  
  
Aster rolled her eyes slightly and sighed, “Listen, I'm here looking for someone. A girl named Jenny.”  
  
He looked her up and down and then said, “Oh- Jenny, huh? You her mom or something?” He asked and Aster glared at him, “Do I look old enough to be anyone's mom?” she snapped.  
  
He seemed taken aback at this and then laughed, “So her older sister then?”  
  
“Sure let's go with that.” Aster said- she was so done with this conversation. This almost wasn't worth the effort. She just wanted to pop in, grab the girl and get the fuck out. But thankfully, the guy turned and pointed up the stairs “She's up there. Probably in the master bedroom. However, once you find her, you should come back and see me- I'd be happy to show you a good time, hot stuff.”  
  
_Nothing would repulse me more._ “Oh my, well, I'll think about it. Thank you for the information.” Aster replied, making her voice as sweet as she could muster. She pushed past him and headed up the stairs.  
  
Once at the top of the stairs, she looked around and began to try doors. She walked in on a few people having sex and was yelled at the first time and invited to join the second time, which she declined. She then opened the door to another room and saw a group of people sitting on the floor- Jenny in the middle of them. There was a bong in between all of them and the room was filled with the smell of weed. Aster walked over to the group and cleared her throat but it seemed that most of them were so out of it, they didn't even notice her presence at first. “Jenny?” She asked, looking at the girl.  
  
Jenny sat up and looked at her, then slowly smiled, “Ohhh Aster, heeey. How are you?” She asked, her tone light and airy. Aster sighed, “Oh just great, Jenny, but you need to come with me.”  
  
“What? Why? Is this about Needles?” She asked, pushing herself into a better sitting position, “I don't want anything to do with that loser, he's going nowhere and fast- I don't need that negativity in my life, man.”  
  
Aster felt her irritation rising- why did this have to be so difficult? She growled and took a step toward the girl. “You're coming with me, one way or another. Don't make this harder than it needs to be.” In response, Jenny stood up and stood her head. “No, I'm not leaving.”  
  
The group that Jenny was with started to get up and make their way to the door, one of them muttering, “Man this lady's harshing the vibe in here. We'll catch up with you in a bit, Jenny.” And as soon as they left and closed the door, Aster took a few steps over to Jenny and pointed at her. “I'm done playing with you, you need to come with me.”  
  
Jenny backed up again and was against the wall now, “No, I don't even like Needles- I just wanted him for his money but even the money's not worth putting up with his annoying ass!” she yelled back and Aster lost it. She already had very little patience and this girl had used up all of it. Aster put her hand over Jenny's face and pushed back with all her strength- smashing the girl's head into the wall. Instantly, Jenny's body went limp and she fell forward into Aster's arms. Aster looked at the wall and saw a small dent and blood where she had smashed Jenny's head into it and groaned. She then hoisted the girl over her shoulder and started to head out, hoping to leave before anyone noticed anything amiss.  
  
Apparently, Aster was just unlucky as she walked out of the room and directly into Jenny's friends. They all glared at Aster and one of them stepped forward, “What happened? Where are you going with her?”  
  
Thinking quickly, Aster smiled at them and said, “I think she's just had too much- I was going to take her back to her place and get her some rest so we can talk when she's more sober. I don't want to fight with her, after all.” As Aster spoke, one of Jenny's other friends circled around back Aster and inspected Jenny's head and said, “Wait a minute, she's bleeding! What did you do?!”  
  
“She slipped and fell- that's how I know she's too drunk and high.” Aster lied, shifting herself to make it more difficult for them to see Jenny's condition.  
  
Clearly, they didn't believe her as one of her friends pulled out a phone, “I'm calling the cops.” he said and began to dial.  
  
_Fuck._ Aster knew this was going to end badly and she had to make a choice. Either stay, try to convince the cops that this was all a misunderstanding and possibly lose the girl. Or get the fuck out. She went with option two, pushing past all of Jenny's friends and running down the hall. She jumped down the stairs, shocking most of the people on the first floor. She heard a voice call out behind her - “Stop her! She's kidnapping that girl!” and Aster cursed, running faster and pushing her way through the confused and shocked crowds. As she got to the hallway that led to the front door, the group of men from earlier were there. They were blocking the door and Aster made a decision to tackle her way through them, hoping they would either move or not be strong enough to stand up to her. Thankfully, she managed to push through them with her strength and out the door. She ran to her car, tossing the girl onto the backseat and peeling out of there.  
  
Too late- there were flashing lights behind her. She groaned loudly and took off, going as fast as the car would go, putting some distance between her and the cops. She then tried to shift the car into a better gear and _scraaaape_ \- a horrible noise emitted from the car and a loud boom. The car started to slow and eventually stopped and Aster screamed in frustration, slamming her hands onto the wheel. She saw smoke coming from the hood and began to panic as the sirens started to get closer. She then heard a knock on the window that scared the hell out of her and she looked to the window.  
  
Rex was standing outside the window, arms crossed and his brow raised. Aster rolled the window down, a sheepish look on her face as she said, “Hi.”  
  
“Seems you're having some car trouble there.” He said, looking over the car. A grimace crossed his face as he saw the smoke coming from the hood. He then looked up the street to the sirens that were rapidly coming and sighed, “Hold on. Let me help you. Turn off the car.” He said and Aster complied.  
  
He moved to the front of the car and suddenly, the car was lifted up off the ground by the front and he began to drag the car to a small alley nearby. He carefully moved the car into the alley as far back as it could go and gently put it back down. He then moved to the passenger side and got into the car. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and offering one to Aster- which she accepted. They sat and watched in silence as the cop cars passed by on the street and once they had all gone by, Aster sighed in relief. Rex then looked in the backseat and saw Jenny, “New friend?” he asked Aster.  
  
“Not exactly. Materials for a dress.” Aster replied, feeling quite stupid at the moment. Of all people to find her, it had to be him. He didn't seem to care or wonder what she meant by that and he pulled out his phone. “Gonna call my guy to come tow this car.” He explained as he looked through his contacts list, “I'm taking back the car, though.”  
  
“Fair.” Aster replied, looking away from him. She kind of wanted to vanish at the moment- she was so embarrassed. Not only did she fuck up at grabbing this girl but now the car was fucked up too. Could anything else go wrong tonight? Rex chatted away on his phone and then hung up, “Well, he'll be here soon. Come on, I'll give you a ride home. Can't exactly call an Uber with her-” He pointed to Jenny, “and my car is just around the corner.” Aster nodded numbly and went to get out of the car, but he grabbed her arm and held out his hand, “But first- my keys.”  
  
With a sigh, Aster took the keys and dropped them into his hand. He quickly pocketed them and let go of her arm, getting out of the car himself. He then moved to the backseat door and opened it, grabbing Jenny and throwing her over his shoulder. Aster then got out of car and started to follow him.  
  
They took the back alleys and walked to another muscle car, but much less nicer than the one Aster had just given up. Rex opened the trunk and tossed Jenny inside and then got into the driver's seat. Aster got into the passenger seat and they began to drive but then Aster realized something, “Wait- can we go somewhere else? I don't really want to bring the girl back to my shop- I have a place that I keep my… projects, like her.”  
  
Rex nodded and asked her for the address, which she supplied. It was a quiet drive there- mostly. He had the radio on and it was playing some classic rock. Finally, Aster broke the silence, “You caught me on a bad night.” She said, looking away from him and out the window.  
  
“You don't say.” He replied dryly, “I couldn't tell.”  
  
“Yes, believe it or not, I don't usually get cops on my ass and blow up cars.” Aster said. She wasn't sure why she bothered to say anything, she didn't have anything to prove to him but she felt like she had to explain herself. To her surprise, he responded with, “Why not? Sounds like fun to me.” She turned and looked at him to see a grin on his face.  
  
“Fun? I prefer to stay out of trouble if I can manage it.” Aster replied but she, too, found herself smiling a bit. “Although I suppose this does give me something to laugh about later.”  
  
“Hey, whatever floats your boat.” Rex replied with a shrug and silence fell between them again.  
  
It didn't take much longer until they were at the butcher's shop. Aster got out, as did Rex. He opened the trunk and grabbed Jenny, handing her over to Aster. She took the girl and smiled at him, “Well. Thank you. I can walk back to the shop from here.” she said, still feeling awkward. He waved her off and walked back to the driver's side door. “No problem. I was in the area anyway.” He replied as he got in. “See you around.” And with that, he took off and Aster watched him drive away for a moment before she headed down the alley around to the back of the shop to safely store Jenny for later.  
  
After Aster felt she was secure, she checked on her other captives and once she was satisfied that their hands and skin were still well enough to use, she left- carefully locking the door behind her- and headed back to her shop.  
  
Outside the shop, there were several cop cars pulled up. She looked in one of the windows to see a cop practically screaming at Needles and she growled. _How dare they come into my shop when I'm not around and yell at my ghoul?_ She slammed the door open and stomped in, “Just what in the hell is going on here?” She yelled and everyone turned to her.  
  
One of the cops moved closer to her and said, “Ma'am, this a police investigation in regards to a kidnapping that happened earlier tonight. Please exit the establishment while we question this young man.”  
  
“Excuse me but this is **my** establishment and you will not be questioning my employee without me present.” She said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at the cop.  
  
The officer stared at her for several moments and then shrugged, “Fine.” He turned back to Needles and frowned, “Now I'll ask you again, son. Jennifer was your ex, right? When was the last time you saw her and where were you tonight?”  
  
Needles looked pleadingly at Aster and then answered, “A-as I said, I-I haven't seen her s-since y-yesterday when we b-broke up. I've been h-here all night, working...”  
  
The officer then turned to Aster, “And you? Where have you been tonight?”  
  
“Out with a friend.” Aster replied quickly, hoping that if it came down to it, she could call Rex and have him cooperate with her. The cop looked at her skeptically, “Is that a fact? Because you seem to match the description of the woman who took her almost perfectly.”  
  
“Oh is that a fact?” Aster said in a mocking tone. “I'm sure that's just a coincidence. What on Earth could I have to gain from taking some random girl?”  
  
The cop then made a move toward her and Aster took a step back, backing right into one of the other officers. “Why don't we go downtown and find out? I'm sure a night in a cell will help you come up with a good reason for why you did it.” And before Aster could protest, the cop behind her grabbed her arms and pulled them back, zip-tying her hands together. She watched angrily as they did the same to Needles and pulled him out from behind the counter by the arm. They were both then escorted, rather forcefully, to one of the police cars. They pushed Needles in first and then Aster afterwards, shoving her so hard she landed on top of Needles. She quickly scrambled to righten herself and growled, “These motherfuckers are going to regret this.” She looked over to Needles, who had broken down in tears.  
  
“Quit crying!” She snapped at him, which only succeeded in making him sob harder. “We're not going to jail, so stop your blubbering!”  
  
“W-what do you m-mean we're not g-going to j-jail, Aster?” He wailed, “W-we're d-done for.”  
  
The cop then got into the car and Aster glared at him. It was the cop she had talked to in the shop. He looked in the mirror and smiled, starting up the car. As they drove, Aster fumbled with her hands, managing to dig her phone out of her back pocket. She had no idea who she was calling or if this would even help but she ran her hands over the touch screen over and over until she heard a faint ringing noise. Once she heard a small voice go “Hello?” she loudly said, “Let me get this straight, asshole, you're arresting me, is that correct?”  
  
The cop then smiled at her from the mirror and said, “Of course not, we're just going for a drive. Gotta straighten out that attitude of yours and get some answers out of you, even if I have to beat them out of you.”    
  
“Get fucked and choke on a cock.” Aster replied, kicking the back of his chair as hard as she could while slipping her phone back into her back pocket. She was angry. She looked around to try and think of a way out when she was suddenly thrown forward, smashing into the back of the seat in front of her.  
  
“What did you just say to me?” The cop snapped as the car stopped, turning in his seat to look at her.  
  
“Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were deaf and stupid- let me repeat myself: Get. Fucked. And. Choke. On. A. Cock.” Aster replied, a grin on her face. All she needed to do was piss him off enough that he'd take her out of the car and then he was as good as dead.  
  
The cop stared at her and then got out of the car- _Yes!_ \- and went around to the door next to Needles. He opened it and pulled Needles out forcefully, throwing him onto the ground. He slammed the door shut, trapping Aster inside, and yelled, “Do you think you can just talk to me like that? Let me show you just what happens, you bitch!” and he pulled out his baton. He then began to beat Needles with it, kicking him intermediately and Needles screamed in pain with every blow, tears running down his face.  
  
Aster watched in horror as the cop beat him savagely, blood starting to come from Needles' nose and mouth. In desperation to help him, she slammed herself against the door and it refused to budge. She needed to do something quick before this asshole beat Needles to death. She looked at the glass of the window and came up with an idea. She laid on her back across the backseat, bringing her legs up to her chest and kicked the window with both feet at full force. The window shattered and she pulled at the zip-ties, breaking them as well. Then, she pulled herself out of the broken window and ran over to the cop, throwing a punch at him as soon as she was close enough. He recoiled from the hit and looked at her in shock. She stood in between him and Needles, putting her fists up to fight. The officer responded by pulling out his gun and aiming it at her and Aster balked. She could take a few bullets, sure, but if he hit Needles…  
  
Just as the officer readied to pull the trigger, another cop car pulled up. Aster cursed loudly, looking at the other car. The driver of the car quickly got out and ran over to the officer, “Just what the hell are you doing?” He asked, looking from the cop to Aster and then to Needles. The cop lowered his gun and looked at the driver and said, “These two are dangerous- they attacked me and tried to kill me!”  
  
“That's a lie!” Aster yelled at him, “You arrested us without cause and then beat my employee almost to death because I gave you a bit of backtalk, you psycho!”  
  
The driver looked from Aster to the cop and said, “You-” and he pointed to the cop “Report downtown immediately- I was sent to give you a message from the Sergent so get your ass downtown. You're done here.”  
  
“But...” The other cop started and he was cut off, “No buts, just go. Now. I'll take care of these two.”  
  
With a final look at Aster and Needles, the cop got into the car and took off. Aster looked at the driver and growled, “So- you gonna pick up where he left off?” and the driver shook his head. “No, you two are free to go. The Czar sends his regards. Be more careful.” He said simply, getting back into his car and driving off.  
  
Aster stared after the car in shock for a moment, had she managed to call the Czar? A groan from Needles made her realize that she didn't have time for this. She quickly dropped to her knees and looked Needles over- she had been a doctor in the past and occasionally brushed up on her medical knowledge with newer textbooks- but all the advances sometimes got lost on her. At the very least, she could assess the damage.    
  
After looking over him for a few moments, a wave of dread fell over her. His ribs were broken and his lungs were possibly punctured and there was tons of internal bleeding. Even if she had a car and left right now, he wouldn't make it to a hospital in time. He probably had only a few minutes of life left in him. _This is my fault… That piece of shit wouldn't have beat him if I hadn't mouthed off to him. And now he's going to die…_ Aster thought to herself, looking down at Needles. He was still conscious and looking up at her, a gurgling noise escaping him as he tried to talk. Aster shook her head at him and shushed him. She knew what she had to do… This was her fault after all.  
  
She slowly descended over him and moved his shirt collar to the side. He looked at her in shock and fear and she smiled sadly at him before biting into his neck. He closed his eyes and brought an arm up, pulling her in closer- she knew that he was feeling the ecstasy of the Kiss. She had never done this before but she knew what to do and if she messed it up… well, he'd be dead either way. She drained away at his blood, making sure to get every last drop until there was nothing left. Then she pulled her pocket knife out and slit her wrist, bringing it to his mouth and allowing the blood to drain into his mouth. She watched in anticipation as he swallowed the blood and continued to lay there, unmoving.  
  
Just when she thought she had failed, his eyes opened again and he jumped up- a growl escaping him and his eyes looking feral and monstrous. _Fuck, I forgot about that. He's in a frenzy_. Aster put her hands up and walked towards him slowly, “Needles- you need to calm down. I know it's hard but don't let the frenzy control you- you need to control the frenzy.” He growled at her and then took off down the street and Aster took off after him. She had to stop him before he did something that would get him killed.  
  
How was he so fast? Aster lost track of him almost immediately. She tried to keep up but just couldn't, his frenzy-fueled speed was amazing. By the time she found him, he was in an alley and next to him was a body. He had blood all over his face and he was curled up in a ball against a wall, sobbing. Aster cautiously approached him and slowly put her hand on his shoulder. He jumped and looked up at her, a horrified look on his face. She noticed that the Embrace had cleared his face up of any acne he had and even toned up his body a bit- he looked good. Aster offered him a hand and he took it, pulling himself up. Shaking, he stepped close to her and pulled her into a hug- surprising Aster. He then whispered, “What happened to me? Did you make me like you?” in her ear and she sighed, “Let's just… go back to the shop. I'll explain everything then.”  
  
He released her and wiped off his face, his bloody tears staining the flesh on his arm. He looked at his arm in renewed shock and said, “Let's go.” And with a nod, Aster led him out of the alley and back toward the shop knowing that a long talk was ahead of them.


End file.
